


Cycles

by LoveOneAnother



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, Heavy Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 01:01:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 25
Words: 43,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9633083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveOneAnother/pseuds/LoveOneAnother
Summary: Moana's father urges her to start looking for a husband. Maui attempts to build his life on a different island. The longing builds between them across the ocean. Everything that leaves must return.





	1. Longing

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work posted on here! Criticism encouraged! Enjoy!

What does a re-empowered demigod do after his magical abilities are restored? Maui curved his hook, glittering a sea blue in the midday heat, in the water of the ocean. The swell and lull of dying waves lapsed against the handle, the salt water creeping up then sloshing down.

Only a few weeks ago, the towering shape-shifter had curled Moana in his arms before leaving her and her people on their newly-replenished island of Motonui. Since then, he traveled from island to island out of boredom. Before, Maui's mission proved as obvious as the conglomeration of stars mirroring his hook: to reclaim his beloved weapon and aid his friend to reclaim her island. Both tasks complete, and no quest loomed over him. His motivation evaporated like the moisture off of the coconut trees when the sun hung in the cloudless sky.

No crowd adorned his shoulders with wreaths of flowers, or decorated his hut with seashells and hand-crafted ornaments: simply because Maui was _not_ the hero that saved Motonui nor the owner of a home of his own. For the past few days, Maui flew off in the form of a hawk to search for an island to live on. After nonstop flight for a few hours, he chose a small expanse of sand and shrubbery with tall trees resurrecting like hands. In the center, there was a clearing large enough for him to build a hut on.

 _This will be my mission_ , Maui flung a stone into the vibrant blue ocean water, _to build my life here_. For thousands of years, Maui's solitude plagued him in his crude shelter of a few large boulders. Some lost sailor or excited fan would stumble upon his island, bringing him fleeting companionship, only to steal the sentiment with them during their departure.

Why had the demigod refused Moana's offer to live in her village amongst hundreds of jovial people? Simply because her lifestyle differed from his in one crucial regard: Motonui reacquired voyaging to expand their community, whereas he had no community at all. Moana completely usurped Maui in bravery; he could not simply integrate himself into a village whose human chief surpassed his demi-god abilities.

Most startlingly, for the first time in thousands of years, Maui had experienced human sentiment: a gentle adoration for Moana, someone other than himself. Now the feelings curdled into longing for Moana's inquisitive persistence and soft mode of speaking. The pair spent an innumerable amount of days and nights navigating the ocean together, now separated by that same water mass.

Maybe Moana and her village would find his quaint island in their voyaging adventures. The thought pricked him like stinging vine, and he rose from the rock he sat on and resumed tearing down trees for the final installments of his hut. He glanced at the endless sea casting its color against the horizon, pondering if Moana could feel his anguish through the currents.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

"A chief must marry." The words flung from Moana's father's mouth.

Moana sighed, brushing a stray lock of her wavy, dark brown hair from her face. "Papa, we have had this conversation many times. I will marry when I am ready."

His face furrowed into hundreds of indented lines, folding over itself in anger. Her father still advised her decision making, although the ultimate authority passed from him to Moana ever since she and Maui restored the heart of Tafiti. He moved past the cloth cover over the door of Moana's personal hut.

None of the boyish villagers appealed to Moana -- even though the formal suiting process hadn't even started yet. So complex with intellect and an incomparable connection to her earthly surroundings, she often felt the young men of the village did not comprehend the duties of chief. Most stared at her tanned midriff peeking out from underneath her fabric cropped shirt and flowing skirt. None dared touch her in lust-filled ways: an indecency even the slowest of the villagers understood. Moana did not feel superior to them, merely existing on a separate intellectual spectrum as the young men. She needed to calculate the amount of coconuts harvested per day and the likelihood of precipitation affecting voyaging, whereas many boys cut their hands from mishandling the machetes while cutting lumber.

Moana blew out the candles lining the walls of her hut, slipping underneath her woven quilt. The waves ground against eachother, distant and thrashing, urging Moana to run her hands in the salt water and listen. She turned over on her sleeping sack, living through memories.

Maui, the only man who explored her emotionally and intellectually. Her nighttime thoughts always sunk back to the nights and days on the boat with the demigod. The images haunted her, burned her, a twisted lullaby before a distressed sleep: his brown eyes glinting in the sun, his muscles engorging with rage when she pestered him, the centuries splayed across his body in black ink, his confidence as impossible to dismiss as his flowing black hair.

Maui abandoned her. Moana offered him a life in Motonui. He declined. She always found his arrogance and stubbornness comforting, but not a trace of either characteristic lingered in his voice when he whispered, "I'm sorry, Moana. I'm not finished yet." His smile only affected his mouth, never reaching his eyes: a sign of insincerity. What did "I'm not finished yet" even refer to? _Clearly_ , Moana thought shakily, _he was finished with me_.

Her thoughts coiled her consciousness into the folds of a dark sleep erupting into a dream: Maui, hands on Moana's cheeks, the words "we are together now" cyclical from his lips, warmth skipping across her skin. Her eyes quaked open to darkness.

The moon had drifted farther into the sky, but blackness still coated the trees and path. Moana relied on her feet feeling the pebbles of the trail to the beach. Nature proved cyclical: seasons, migration patterns, life leading to death leading to life once more, the tide. Everything leaving must return. Moana dug her heels into the soft sand, staring at the glassy ocean growing increasingly shattered as she approached the edge of the water. Would Maui return?

She failed to realize the reason she urged to speak with the ocean. Continued restlessness ever since the conclusion of her journey? Pressure from her father and mother to marry? The absence of Maui? Moana dipped her hand in the ocean, the water cool on her fingertips. "I, I don't know why I am here. I don't know what to do."

Moana collapsed onto the wet sand on her hands and knees, tears welling up in her eyes. The waves curled into one another, and through her stained eyes, the shape of a hook formed on the surface of the water for a moment. She raised her face to the sky, Maui's hook imprinted in the whiteness of the stars.

"But, but, I, I don't know where Maui is! He, he, _left_ me!" She hissed at the ocean, which frothed back at her. She stalked back to her hut, defeated, and dove into a deep sleep once more.


	2. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana encounters an attractive, elusive older villager. Maui debates visiting Moana.

Maui had completed his hut days ago. His time on his island consisted of eating, sleeping, and watching the ocean. He disguised himself as a fish flocking in a school before transforming into a shark in order to feast on his prey, or morphed into a lizard to slurp insects down his throat. For hours, he sat on the beach, as empty as his life hidden in the boulders and hook-less, glaring against the sun at the horizon. He hoped for a ship guided by fearless Moana to land on his island, to lightly sneer at her about her girlish schemes. He wanted to harvest their memories like grain, to rub his large hands over her tanned back. Maui always carried a bit of seed for the deranged hen always accompanying Moana, in case their villagers docked and the chicken clucked with hunger. The fantasy consumed him each day until the agony urged him to react.

_A harmless, and well-disguised visit, to Motonui_ , Maui thought, _to check on the princess_. Maui cringed at imagining Moana's reaction to him traipsing upon Tafiti's sands in his demi-god form, the endless bashing of his pride, her cries of "did you miss me?" His cheeks would blush and Moana would celebrate her victory over him, pestering him with, "yes, you did! Yes, you did!"

_What the hell am I thinking,_ Maui stalked off down the beach, shaking his head. He clambered through the rocks and trees to his hut, too spacious for a single body, and poured cool water over his heated skin. His eyes focused on the tattoo man pointing and jumping excitedly at a new mark on his body: a heart with the silhouette of a girl in the middle. Maui dropped the coconut shell full of water on the wooden hut floor. The long hair, the slim torso: the tattoo was of _Moana_. Surges of midnight blue blood paraded through his veins. He ripped against his skin at the outline of her figure, confused yet simultaneously longing to caress her.

Maui's acquisition of a tattoo of the young woman befuddled him, as each new mark on his body signified a major life event. Did this image display a platonic connection to Moana, or a richer attract ion? He collapsed onto his makeshift palm mattress, allowing the darkness to blend into his thoughts.

_Yes_ , he affirmed, _I do spend a lot of time thinking about Moana._ Yet, the verb "think" did not accurately describe his habits; Maui _fantasized_ about encountering the princess in the future, and those vignettes invading his mind sometimes involved their bodies entangling.

_Shit_ , Maui released a shaky sigh. Simply imagining her twisting her sculpted torso caused Maui to clench his fists. He turned to his side, defeated once again by the young Polynesian princess.

************************************************************************************************************************************** 

The night swarmed over Moana, milky and mystical with hues of dark blue, as she laid directly on the sand. The moon sculpted the landscape of the island into giant curves. _Like Maui's muscles_ , Moana thought wistfully. Ever since the island's revival, the environment exuded strength similar to the power of the demigod. Wild fruit and crops weighed the trees down with their sustenance. Moana was convinced more fish swam within the traps than in the ocean itself. The chief received few complaints from villagers. The only element void from the paradise of Motonui was Maui.

Moana carved the shape of Maui's hook into the sand with a finger, over and over again until a fiery pain developed in her hand. She stomped over the image with her foot, twisting and churning her heel into the sand. She needed to walk away.

As she rose from her seated position, a large figure approached her a few hundred yards down the beach. The dim white emulating from the moon outlined broad shoulders, grand height, and bulging arm muscles. The figure walked with something slung behind his back.

"Maui?" Moana, entranced, glided down the beach with soft footsteps. Her heart swelled, invading her ears in rhythmic pulses. Her exhales sharpened like two waves colliding into each other.

The figure stopped less than a hundred yards away from her. Moana's eyes adjusted to the darkness underneath the banana trees above, shadowing the man.

"Moana?" The deep voice prodded her, "what are you doing out this late at night?"

Moana shuddered with disappointment. "Oh, hey, Tal." The villager was a few years older than her, reserved, dedicated to the village, and hardworking -- yet somewhat of an enigma to Moana. He toiled without complaint for hours every day, and wholeheartedly immersed himself in work. Many of the young women and teenage girls of the village obsessed over his guardedness and looming physical strength. This was the first one-on-one encounter the pair experienced.

"I, I was expecting someone else," Moana gulped.

Tal dropped the bag slung behind his back in front of him. "Hmmm, is the chief hiding a secret?" His voiced remained steady in tone.

Moana rarely felt intimidated by any of the other villagers, who adored her and readily shared their lives with her. Tal, contrastingly, challenged this. Somehow, she admired this about him. He comprehended her authority, abided by it in following job orders, yet strained away from it by closing his personal life off to everyone.

"Maybe you're the one with the secret. What's in the bag?"

Tal ran a large hand through his short brown hair. His dark eyes searched Moana's face. "I found a secret grove of papayas on the far side of the island."

"Were you planning on telling me or any one else about this?" Moana's voice quivered slightly, yet she pretended to appear collected by crossing her arms and leaning into one hip.

"No," Tal answered coldly.

"Why not?" She whispered.

"Because it's somewhere I can be alone."

The air between them charged with sentiment. Tal's direct refusal to obey the village rule of shared food supplies did not anger Moana... it intrigued her. She was drawn to Tal like she was to Maui, like the ocean water to the moon. Just like Maui, Tal wedged himself in between Moana and her control.

"So, are you going to _punish_ me?" Tal stepped closer. Moana felt herself simultaneously shrink into herself and expand towards him.

Was Tal _flirting_ with her? None of the other village men were confident enough to tease her like this -- and, truthfully, she _enjoyed_ it.

"I like being alone, too. That's why I was out here by myself tonight." She moved towards Tal, sensing his shallow breaths despite his calm exterior.

"That doesn't explain why you were expecting someone besides me." Tal's voice was emotionless and low.

The thought of Maui shriveled the inside of Moana's stomach. She turned her head towards the ocean. When she returned her gaze to Tal's face, his stare slowly crawled down from her eyes to her neck to her chest to her bare, muscular midriff illuminated by the reflecting moonlight off of the water. The line of his vision burned like fire ants against her tanned skin. Moana knew he was examining her toned body, and Tal knew that she knew -- yet he didn't care.

"I was waiting for a man." Moana dropped her head to stare at her feet.

Tal was stunned into silence. "Who? Why?" His curiosity peeked, and he moved even closer to Moana until their bodies unsteadily stood a foot apart. He towered over her, the top of her head barely aligning with the middle of his chest. His scent of rain-soaked leaves, sun-dried skin, and salt water invaded her lungs. She tipped her head back to look at him.

"Secret chief obligations. I guess he's not coming." Moana smirked at Tal's brows scrunching the rest of his face.

"I always thought you were a scared little girl deep down. You keep proving me wrong." Tal said playfully, a small smile shaking his lips.

"Who are you to question what I can and can't do?"

"Does your dad know about your attempted rendezvous?" Tal interjected.            

"No. And he doesn't need to know." Moana snarled defensively.

"Fair enough." Tal snatched his bag of papayas from his feet and trudged back towards the village, his arm gliding against Moana's as he passed. Moana turned to watch him go, then walked back to her hut.

***************************************************************************************** 

"Ok. It's _just_ Moana." Maui plunged his fingers into his black hair, nervously tossing his magical hook from hand to hand. He pondered whether or not to transform himself into a hawk and secretly check on Motonui, and more importantly, the young princess.

The visions of her fearless laugh, the round cheeks, her plump lips -- he kicked the sand as he paraded down the beach. Moana dominated his thoughts.

_Damn it_ , he thought, curling the hook in his hands. He swung with tremendous force, his human body and limbs replaced by the talons of a hawk, deep brown feathers, and a golden beak. The hook fell onto the sand with a _thud_. Maui flapped his wings and ascended into the early morning sky.


	3. Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui flies back to solitude. Moana visits Tal to pacify her nighttime loneliness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major smut warning! Comments welcome!

"Perfect! Thank you, Akela!" Moana excitedly clapped her hands as an elderly village woman placed a dish of roasted fish on the long wooden table centered in the village meeting hut. Villagers continued to process along the table, positioning their freshly-made dishes of roasted pig, fruit, salad, bread, and cakes.

The village regularly hosted festivals for various celebrations. Tonight, the village honored the naming of Moana as chief. Moana insisted the event encompass the revival of Motonui in general in an effort to limit the attention placed on the young chief. However, villagers were adamant about organizing the festival without Moana's guidance. Moana, eager to honor her community, lined strings of flower garlands along the meeting hut's walls and placed torches brimming with thick fire as lighting. A troop of teenage boys moved the long table to the middle of the venue. The ambiance of the room fluttered with vivacity.

The festival and her odd encounter with Tal distracted Moana from Maui. For the first time since meeting the demigod, she felt secure in his absence: independent of his existence. Her longing for Maui loomed in the depths of her mind, but a fascination with Tal developed.

After a swift drum performance by a group of children, Moana stood before her village. Everyone beamed at the young chief as she rose from her seated position on the floor and in front of the table. She nervously fidgeted with her hair as she thought of Tal watching her from some part of the circle.

"Firstly, thank you. Thank you so much for making my first feast as chief so extravagant." Moana's voice was soft and wholesome. People pumped their fists in the air, or clapped as they leaned against the wall.

"You must not express your gratitude to me for the rebirth of our beloved island-" Moana started, but spotted Tal slinking against the far wall. His dark eyes glimmered with flecks of orange and shadows from the torches. She froze as his gaze pierced through her to the other side of the hut, evaluating her bare midriff once again peeping out from under her long, white skirt and matching cropped top. Her eyes were painted with thin lines of black paint, and her hair elegantly shrouded her shoulders underneath her flower crown.

"You, you must display your love to the gods and demigods," Moana continued, releasing a sigh after blurting out the word "demigod" with the image of Maui, "You must continue to take care of this island, because soon enough, you won't be able to tell yourselves a part. Let's feast!"

Everyone clapped and lined up to select which of the many dishes to fill their stomachs.

"Where's Maui?" A young boy named Ahu patted Moana on the arm.

The question extracted all of the air from Moana's lungs. She cringed. "He, um, couldn't be here tonight."

"Oh. Thank you for the feast, Moana." Ahu walked away to stand in line with his parents.

Moana stationed herself at the back of the line, but everyone pushed her to the front. Helping herself to the variety of dishes, she sat on the torch-lit beach and waited for the remainder of the village to join her.

************************************************************************************           

Maui's wings quivered in pain. His muscles felt fatigued from non stop flying for over a half of a day. A small smile tipped the edges of his beak as he recognized the familiar rises and falls of Motonui's landscape. Balls of orange light adorned the beach, specks of black interspersed between. Trails of smoke reached their fingers into the dark sky. Maui assumed a festival was taking place, and with a few gentle flaps of his wings, glided into the shadows of the trees lining the edge of the beach. He perched underneath the leaves of a tall tree, his talons resting firmly on the branch.

Peering down from his roost, Maui saw her for the first time since he embraced her before leaving Motonui: Moana, smiling effortlessly amidst a few young children sitting on either side of her as they watched a musical performance. She appeared older, more mature: the top portion of her hair pulled back and secured with a band of flowers. Maui still sensed her youthfulness behind her painted eyelids. Her white skirt and top matched the full moon above: elegant and natural.

His heart swelled with passion, nearly tipping over his feeble body without the security of his talons against the branch. The pounding of the drums flooded through him like water through sound. How was he so ignorant and conceded to leave this magnificent embodiment of nature's grace to simply mask his beaten pride?

The performance ended with a massive _clank_ , and cheers circulated from around the crowd feasting from giant leaves in their laps. Moana's eyes crinkled in admiration. The former chief, Moana's father walked in front of the village with a staff in his hand.

"As former chief, and father of Moana, I am incredibly proud of the passion and heritage of my daughter and this island as a whole. We will continue to honor it until death!" His voice rumbled over the crowd, who clapped and cheered in response.

"But, as Moana's father, I must take it upon myself to announce this: my daughter is looking for a husband. And she will not settle for any young man, but one with the ferocity and intellect to match hers. This process may take months, or years, but will be carried out by our family and Moana herself." His tone morphed into a more serious one, and some villagers gasped while others nodded their heads.

The rest of the conversation drifted away from Maui's ears, as if he swam underwater and the current absorbed any sound. His throat constricted with the knowledge that his love for Moana was unrequited. He glanced at Moana's face, awestricken and impassioned with anger. What did her reaction to her father's statement matter? She obviously did not care about him if she made no effort to contact him since this recent revelation that she scouted out a husband. Sickened and starving, Maui angrily swooped from his perch towards the ocean to catch fish and return to his solitude.

************************************************************************************           

Moana's brow bent in disgust at her father's carelessness. The young chief held no desire to marry and bear children -- at least not in the next few years. The state of Motonui and the village depended on Moana's governance. Marriage would prove a distraction, especially as Moana continued to learn more about the duties of a chief. Her father's demands once again over rid her wants to the point where he announced publicly that she wanted a husband -- an absolute falsehood.

Besides those reasons, the deepest one tugged at her: Maui. Who could care for her and empower her like the missing demigod? Wanting to lash out and cry to herself, but without the outlet to, Moana sat glumly as the performances, speeches, and dances continued. _Maybe I should marry_ , she thought _, to rid myself of this attachment to Maui who left here months ago_.

As the festival officially concluded, new activities of dancing and games commenced. The timing now appropriate to return to the recluse of her hut, Moana slipped away from the crowds to walk down the beach to avoid the throngs of people in the village.

She fluttered underneath the same grove of banana trees entrenched with darkness under which she spoke with Tal the night before. A large hand wrapped around her shoulder from behind as she stepped through the first layer of thicket into the forest.

"Huh!" Moana gasped, slipping on the unsteady underbrush to collapse backwards against the muscular front side of a man. The familiar rustic and masculine scent rippled over her, urging her pulse to rise with the moon overhead.

"Tal?" Moana spun around to glare into his face shrouded in black.

"Are you trying to find my papaya grove?" His tone dabbled in between serious and facetious.

Moana brushed a stray strand of hair from in front of her face, " _Your_ papaya grove? And why were you following me out here, anyway? And to answer your _stupid_ question, I was just trying to avoid--" she sighed, thinking to herself, _trying to avoid thinking about Maui_.

"Avoid _what_?" Tal's voice dropped to the forest floor beneath them. The subtle cooing of nocturnal animals jostled them from inside of the cavernous sheets of leaves above them. The moon peered from above, casting a silver glow on Tal's carved features. His eyes matched the sky: dark, lifeless.

Annoyed and somewhat proud of herself for once again sparking Tal's curiosity, Moana turned sharply away and pushed at the branches that seemed to exclude her from their solitude. Without light, the endeavor proved futile, so she marched back and stared at Tal once again.

"Look, I don't know what you're trying to do, but now is definitely _not_ a good time," Moana scrunched her nose in irritation.

Tal's lips curved into a coy smirk. His expression was predatory, lustful. "Ok." The word permeated the air, stilling Moana, as Tal confidently and enigmatically turned away from the Polynesian princess and walked back towards the festivities.

Sliding through the throngs of delighted villagers with warm stomachs brimming with dishes from the feast, Moana sulked back to her hut. Her future quaked in her mind like shivering leaves. She always envisioned herself with someone with a similar courageous attitude, someone who complemented her enthusiasm with grounded realism, so much unlike all of the men she encountered here. Moving in the shadows of the huts, flashing a forged smile to villagers, she swept past the fabric covering the door of her hut and threw her garments on the wooden floor.

Moana collapsed in emotional exhaustion onto her sleeping sack. She slowly rocked her body back in forth to attempt to silence the thoughts of her impending marital fate: like the swaying of the boat her and Maui rode on months ago. Her father's public announcement of the availability of his daughter sickened Moana. As a pacifying mechanism, she allowed her mind to sift through the dust of the past with the demi god. Recently, the images transformed into more primal vignettes: Maui's thunderous groans in Moana's ears, his hands exploring her patch of femininity, his engorged dick. The place between her legs dripped onto her sleeping sack. The princess tormented herself with her fingers, pretending they were Maui's.

The din of late night festivities quieted hours later, the moon high on its perch above Motonui. Moana continued to graze over Maui's body with her memory. Her fingers thrusting into her space, her soft moans, Moana needed more than she herself could sexually provide. She quickly pulled a silky sleeping gown over her shoulders. Like the sun pulling the moon, Moana slipped out of her hut with her feet tracing an unfamiliar path.

The lamplight continued to gleam through the fabric of Tal's door curtain, and she could faintly hear his strained voice. Ascending the few stairs and peering through the crack in the curtain, Moana soaked up the image for a moment: Tal, naked except for a loin cloth covering his crotch, his muscles clenched in effort, his hand exploring his dick, his face painted with beads of sweat.

"Moana," he moaned, his voice oozing with desire. He repeated her name, grunting.

A multitude of sentiments warped Moana's body like a fog. She, too, experienced an intense lust -- and followed this sense to Tal's hut. She also felt embarrassed at secretly watching Tal touch himself to visions of her, and extremely aroused by this and her thoughts of Maui. The tension constantly streamed between them like strings of steam, whether eye contact at town meetings or meals or in passing or the two incidents.

Moana could not resist any longer, she slid back the curtain and floated into the middle of the hut. Tal, a dazed and carnal expression plastered to his chiseled face, lifted his head off of his sleeping sack and removed his hand from his dick. She craved a touch, whether from Tal or Maui. The space hung between them like shells suspended in the current, the torch light casting streams of black over Tal's bulging muscles. His eyes ripped at Moana in pure anger, but his body rose alert.

"What are you doing here," he stepped towards her, massive in height compared to dainty Moana. Tal's fists curled tightly against his sides, his member still standing proudly underneath his cloth. His tone was defensive, more like a growl than a question. This time, Tal had no explanation or sly remarks for his actions, and they both realized this.

Moana peered at him dreamily from under her long lashes. Her lips coiled into a sultry pout, pondering her response. She examined his body in the dim lighting, his obvious strength, his large member, and his dark-infested eyes.

"I know how you look at me," was all she managed to say before daring to move even closer, the thin slip of air and her silky slip the only obstacles between their bodies. "I couldn't sleep," she continued, "so I came here." An air current caught the hem of her translucent slip, rustling the fabric. Her bare, small chest clung to the silky material: the focus of Tal's stare.

"So what if I look at you like that," his voice was soaked in passion and frustration.

"You want to intimidate me, make me think you're older and stronger and too mature to be looking at someone my age like that," her words whipped him, and she attempted to mask her fear, "but I know what you've been thinking. I caught you."

The muscles appeared to be engraved in Tal's body like stone, soon inflating with rage. His eyes reflected defeat, but his tone indicated eagerness to continue to battle. "I can sense that you're scared. I'm eight, nine years older than you."

Moana prodded further, licking her lips and jabbing, "You were just calling out my name when you--"

Tal lunged at Moana with both of his large hands, digging his fingers possessively onto her hips and thrusting his body against hers to pin her against one of the walls of the hut. Moana's breath released and flooded into her body in quick spurts. Her head dug into his broad chest, and his sudden movement sent a wave of arousal down her stomach and into her sacred area. Their bodies pressed together like sand on skin, and Moana basked in the proximity of a male body touching hers. His dick, hard against her stomach, indicated his thirst.

Tal yanked Moana's chin up with one of his hands, and she peered up at him in dual trepidation and lust. "Yeah, when I was touching myself? Well, look who wandered over to _my_ hut when she 'couldn't fall asleep.'" Moana lifted one of her hands to caress the tender skin of Tal's upper thigh. He shivered, and leaned farther over Moana so her body was buried under his.

"I'm not going to let you win," she mumbled into his bare chest, her lips tickling his sun-weathered skin. Throughout all of the flirtatious and aggressive banter, the glances, the touches, something felt askew to Moana -- like her hands and her feelings spilt over the wrong person. She thought about Maui, about what he was doing now, as she continued to contend with Tal for the superior position in their odd power dynamic. Maybe if she drowned herself in someone else she could release her desires for the estranged demigod.

"Win what? You?" In one motion, Tal effortlessly flung Moana up onto his hips. As a concession, Moana slid her legs around his firm body and wrapped her thin yet toned arms around his neck. She gyrated the outside of her slit overflowing with juices onto Tal's dick, the moisture sending quakes through him.

Moana softly purred in his ear, "you're pretty big, you know that." Tal's dick twitched at this, pressing with more force against Moana.

"Moana," he hissed, and she knew she reigned victorious.

A grin stretched her lips all the way up to her cherry cheeks. She pressed back to stare Tal in the face, his eyes murky with lust and impatience. They both knew of her winning this battle.

"Enough of this back and forth shit," Tal strode over to his plush sleep sack and dropped Moana onto it. She bounced slightly, her small breasts shaking from the movement. Moana could not stop contemplating the lustful expression in Tal's eyes, one she conjured from her memories with Maui sailing the ocean. She sometimes would glance at Maui whose eyes crawled over her tight butt or bare midriff, especially after she moved or said something entertaining to the demi god.

Laying on Tal's fodder-filled sleep sack, Moana hadn't realized that Maui looked at her with a similar degree of lust until she recognized the emotion in Tal. She mistook murky, primal anguish for curiosity, contemplation, or some other enigmatic force. The revelation passed over her with euphoria, a feeling of exuberance more captivating than Tal now ravaging his hands over her silk slip. _Maui looked at me like that. The way Tal looks at me._ She moaned in pleasure. The demi god had been too fearful of admitting his desires.

"I, I have to go," Moana sprang up before Tal could remove her slip.

Tal's eyes glinted red and dark brown in the torchlight. Before he could respond, Moana, rushed through the curtain and ran to the beach.

************************************************************************************           

Maui, in hawk form, reached his small island as dawn grasped the horizon. The colors spilled onto the ocean's surface, murky pastels throbbing from the sky to the water. With the faint morning light, he spotted his hook still plopped on the sand and immediately transformed into his human form.

He strode into the forest, his giant foot prints inches deep into the sand. Anything, anything to release his fury, his envy, his dissolved pride. Why did he experience such deep emotions? The pair never admitted any feelings past friendship, but the idea of Moana with another man churned Maui's stomach.

 _I thought I was the closest male to Moana_ , Maui heaved a boulder above his head and threw it into a grove of trees. The chaos, birds squawking and fluttering towards the newly-born sun, the trees collapsing into themselves -- he smiled savagely. Causing destruction pleased him, but his stomach twisted in discontentedness and hunger. He swung his body up the trunk of a coconut tree, shaking the fruits down from their branches and ripping them apart with his hands.

Maui stumbled onto the beach with his shredded fruit, sucking the sweet milk and shredded skin with his tongue. He watched the horizon burn.

 


	4. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana finds Maui's island. Maui isn't happy to see her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight smut! More in following chapter!

The water was especially clear in the slim hours of the morning. Fish scuttled past, rays glided along the ocean floor, and Moana yawned as she woke from her few hours of sleep.

She had left a note in her hut saying she needed to "take care of secret, yet urgent, business involving another island." She proceeded to beg the ocean to carry her to Maui.

What if Moana had imagined the look of desire in Maui's eyes? What if all of her emotions proved one-sided, falling flat like a pile of unbounded sticks balanced on top of one another? She squinted above her at the coating of pink indicating the infantile dawn. Maui obviously had not settled close to Motonui; did this mean he wanted to forget their adventures altogether?

Just as Moana attempted to conjure up some sort of greeting or figure out what her motives for seeing the demigod were, the bubble burst. She laid with her butt pressed in the sand on the beach of a small, desolate island. Sitting a hundred yards away from her with a few empty coconut shells surrounding him was Maui.

Moana shoved the hair out of her eyes and stared. His black hair still reached his shoulders in curled bunches. A confused and damaged expression hung over his eyes, but his eyes still crushed her even in their anger: deep brown like fallen branches during monsoon season. His muscles sculpted his body, maybe even more defined than before -- if that was even possible.

"Aren't you going to hug me?" She murmured, her tears spilling down her still-rounded cheeks. She stood up. Why was Maui being so elusive? He obviously had something to tell the emotional princess. Emotions rained over her: guilt for momentarily pursuing Tal, sadness that Maui did not appear excited to see her, and excitement at finally seeing the focus of her thoughts for months and months. The urge to crash her body onto his body also consumed her. How had she repressed this for so long?

"Moana." Maui said her name like a command, his face strained in swirling frustration. He made no attempt to approach her -- as reserved as their first few days on wayfaring together. Something, something felt wrong.

Moana wanted to devour the space between them in a few petite strides, to collapse against the hulk of his chest. She could not force her body to move, feeling estranged from the now-foreign man across from her. 

Although indignant, Maui stared back at the princess wearing a white cut off shirt and a flowing pink skirt -- noticing more changes and similarities than from his perch as a hawk the night before. She certainly developed in the last few months: her hair slightly brighter from sun exposure, her eyes a melted brown, her lips plumper. Her skin gleamed, probably soft from the salt water. Maui noticed perceptible tears welling in her eyes, while a smile painted her lips. He stood up and walked to her, cautious of coming too close.

"I don't know you anymore, and I thought I did," Maui spit the words at her. What was she doing here, traipsing onto his island pretending like their reunion should be filled with eagerness and excitement despite her pursuing of other men? The most heart-wrenching part of this was the unprecedented depth of his feelings for her, what he wanted to do to her... not anymore. Not that the pair was ever more than platonic or admitted their, rather his, emotions to her.

Her eyes quivered, the smile falling into a pout. More tears slipped. He feigned apathy, shielding his internal sadness and defensiveness at seeing her upset.

"What, what do you mean?" Moana's voice was quiet against the rustling of the waves.

"Don't test me, Moana," he growled, "I know what you've been doing."

Her mouth opened in an exasperated O, then shut. The words wrangled against her lips, "how would you know about Tal? And why would you even _care_?" Her words contained as much fury as his.

"Who's Tal?" Maui stepped so their bodies almost touched, his face glowering down at hers.

Moana's eyes mapped her intimidation. "The man I was with last night."

Maui was not expecting the oh-so innocent princess to actually interact sexually with anyone -- although the village boys obviously stripped her down with their stares. "You were with someone else?"

"Someone _else_? What do you think we are? If you forgot, I offered you a part in my life in my village. You left that. You left me. You didn't seem to care, or want to visit me." She moved backwards, wounded.

Maui never considered her emotions in his decision to not live in Motonui. Her perceivable anguish displayed that she cared about him in some emotional capacity. "How could I submit myself to you, a young mortal when my demigod powers were just restored?"

"Submit yourself to me? So, you rejected the life we could've had together because of _pride_?" Moana yanked her clenched fist down to her side.

"You hurt that pride," Maui dared to dart into his emotional issues, to lay his grief in front of her like a stone path, "I visited you last night, as a hawk, watched your father display you like some sort of emblem, up for grabs for marriage. You never told me you were looking for someone," He huffed, his brows furrowing.

Moana turned her head away to desperately mask the heartbreak on her face. Maui knew that she experienced torment over their estranged relationship.

"And then you come prancing onto this island acting like everything is fine between us, when it's just _not_ , when you were with some other man," he continued.

"We weren't and aren't together. Why are you so possessive of me?" Moana wiped her wet cheeks with the back of her hand. Maui admitted to himself of her beauty even in the midst of her sadness.

"Don't, just, just don't, Moana. How am I supposed to simply visit you when I know there's a good chance you would be with some other man? Was I supposed to take a risk and live with you, watch you put on a show for suitors? If it isn't obvious by now, there's something greater here than what we had before. I have no idea if you feel the same way, but it doesn't matter anymore. We will never work." Maui internally cursed himself for confessing his attraction to the princess.

"You didn't even give us a chance, though. I, I didn't _want_ to get married. I was with Tal last night to try to forget about you. All I could do was think about you, your body..." Moana's voice lifted up to the sky.

Hearing the young woman say the last two words spiked Maui's heart beat. The naive, enthusiastic, determined village girl experienced sexual thoughts about him. _Damn_ , Maui thought, _she has a hold on me_. "Did you think about me at night?" He approached her, negative sentiments dissolving just at the slender curves of her body and definition of her toned arms and the bold eyelashes. Maui wanted to break the space between their bodies like crumbling boulders.

Moana blushed and demurely nodded, Maui's desire reflected in her own eyes. Did she still want his body like he wanted all of her? "I saw the desire in Tal's eyes when he looked at me. I've never seen anyone look at me like that, with that amount of unfiltered lust. I realized, though, that I _had_ seen it, in, in you. When you looked at me when we were wayfaring. I didn't know what that was until now. That's when I knew that you feel, I mean _felt_ , that way about me."

Maui ran a hand through his dark hair. _She has me pinned_ , he internally sighed. "How can I have you, your body, now knowing that you will be eventually given away to someone else?" He implored, running his fingers along her defined collar bone. She tightened at his touch like a baby clam shielding itself from the tide. Her skin, supple and youthful under his calloused fingers.

Moana shook her head earnestly, "I, I don't know. But we have right now."

Oh, the places he wanted to put his hands on Moana's body. Luckily, she did not realize how hard she was making him -- too inexperienced to recognize all of the signs when a man is turned on. "What are you suggesting?"

"Um, well, I, uh..." Moana's voice trailed off and she avoided his dark eyes.

Maui threw the words at her, "If you want me to touch you, we're doing it my way, princess."

Moana nodded her head and smiled at his old nickname for her, "Ok. And don't call me that."

"My way, remember?" Maui motioned for the skiddish girl to follow him.

 *****************************************************************************************         

The room drowned in darkness even after Maui pushed back the curtain, Moana's footsteps padding behind him. The two-room hut was spacious for the demigod -- its sole resident. Striding through a tall doorway to his bedroom, Maui splayed his hand through the air to indicate Moana to sit on the plump and feathery sleep sack big enough for both of them.

Timidly, she sat down with her legs crossed and back against the wall. Although it was daytime, Maui lit the torchlights on the walls; he wanted to see Moana, not just touch her.

"You look like you were made to fit on my bed like that," Maui stood over her, watching.

"Shush," Moana attempted to make her voice higher in pitch, but the words fell out of her mouth small and flat. She was nervous.

"Are you nervous, Curly?"

She nodded, twisting her head away from Maui to expose the bare skin on her neck. Did Moana want him or not?

Maui feared her response, "Is this something you want? I need a definite 'yes' or 'no.'"

"Yes, but --"

"Did I ask for an explanation or interjection? No." Maui held his hand in front of her face, coaxing a smile from Moana at his egotistical personality.

"You're just used to girls falling all over you," Moana's voice lifted, containing a lilt of playfulness, "But I'm not like that."

The young chief thought she could talk to him like that. "What did you just say?" He dug his hands into the bottom of his sleeping sack, on all fours at Moana's feet.

She jerked her foot at his face, and he intercepted her ankle in mid air -- the grin on her face evaporating into a surprised expression. "Uh, nevermind."

"Remember what I said, about me taking control of this?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know why I want it to be like this?"

"Because you were with someone else last night."

Moana's eyes grew to the size of coconuts. "Are you going to _hurt_ me?"

Maui sighed, dropping her foot back to the bed. How uninformed was she? Of course he had no intentions of hurting her, just touching her all over with all parts of his body. "No, princess. I'd never _want_ to hurt you."

"...Oh."

"Now, tell Big Maui what you did with, with--"

"With Tal," Moana interrupted, "and also, don't call yourself that."

Another internal sigh of aggravation. Moana's disorderliness irked him, but also turned him on. The defiant little thing now curled up at the top of his sleeping sack, retracting her legs towards her to lay in a fetal position. "Ok, then. So what did you do with your friend Tal? And who is he? What does he look--"

"Are you jealous?" Moana squeaked, laughter erupting from her lips. Damn, the girl at least knew how to flirt.

Maui stared at her, eyes vibrant with annoyance. "Be unruly. We don't have to do this, anyway." He stood up and stalked off to the far wall, slouching against it.

Moana pouted her lips. Gods, did that kill Maui. Then, as if this facial expression wasn't putting a rock in his crotch, she crawled down to the foot of his sleeping sack and laid demurely on her stomach. Her feet swished in the air behind her, chest pressed against the fabric and spilling over her top.

"Tell me what you did with him. I wanna know how you touched him and he touched you."

Maui braced himself for the eruption of envy about to spurt due to Moana describing her sexual interactions with someone else. He crossed his arms to appear collected, but he felt feeble internally.

Moana sighed and pressed her face into the sleeping sack, then looked him straight in the eyes. "We didn't do much. Just went over to his hut, I saw him touching himself while he called out my name, then--"

"He was jerking off thinking about you?" Maui clenched his fists and stomped a step towards her.

She nodded, in terror of Maui's fury. "Then, we said some things, and he pinned me against the wall, and picked me up, and our, um, parts touched, but we had a little bit of clothing on, and then he threw me on the sleep sack, and that's when I left."       

Maui exhaled a relieved sigh. Moana barely interacted with the joke of a man. His worries ran rampant before, thinking of someone sticking their dick in his fiesty little prize. "Was that the only person you've been with?" Maui questioned.

Abashedly, she blinked at him and blushed, "Yes."

 _Oh Gods,_ Maui quivered, _she's inexperienced_. The idea of teaching her sexual activities further hardened his massive dick. He couldn't wait to sink it in her -- if she'd allow it.

"So, I guess I should teach you? And, how far do you want to go?"

She smiled at him dreamily, "Everything. Teach me everything."


	5. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui and Moana mess around in Maui's hut. Then things get serious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning! And plot twist at end!

Maui positioned himself at the bottom of his sleeping sack. The torches colored on the walls in bright orange; Maui felt himself crackling for Moana. Their personalities, both enormous in capacity, fused and clanged like metal. Now, in the humidity of Maui's hut, the passionate energy they basked in heightened.

The demigod motioned for Moana to sit on his lap. Stripped of his flaming callousness and playful demeanor, Maui held in his arms the object of an inexplicable tenderness: the moment shaking in his mind for months. His fiery princess, the determined village girl he loved to rile with mock fury... she crawled like a jungle cat into his awaiting grasp. He grinned.

"I've been thinking about doing this ever since we met," Maui slipped his lips into her cool ear, gnawing on the edges with his teeth. She squirmed like an exotic fish in his fingers. His hands caressed the gentle slop of her midriff to her hips, the muscle of daily physical toil evident beneath his palms.

Moana wasn't simply a breathing body to touch. He delved into her emotional folds, like oars in water, their interests and aspirations merging together for those few glorious weeks on the ocean. This, this was lover against lover. This was danger, the sentiment moments from collapsing, dousing Maui in oncoming, monstrous saltwater. Mortal and demigod. Nonviable.

Maui whisked realism out of his hut. Contemplate the results, or perform the action?

"Touch me," Moana whimpered, dragging one hand in between her thighs and the other to one of her breasts.

Maui's dick throbbed at her petite voice requesting arguably the most primal of actions. His fingers kneaded the thin fabric covering her breasts, tender over her hardened nipple. He retracted the fabric of her skirt up to her hips to reveal her toned legs. Moana, devilish in lust, grinded her butt over Maui's crotch.

Maui regained his authority and playfulness. The room quivered with months of anguish and longing, and the demi god neither expected nor understood how to combat these emotions. For years, he merely touched and discarded and touched women. This was not Maui's territory.

"Stand up, princess," his voice gentle with a spurt of lightheartedness, "and take off your clothes for me." _Keep your cool, demigod,_ Maui sighed to himself. He doubted he could withstand any more of this gradual stuff.

Moana rose, understanding her body tempted Maui. She shoved her butt out before turning towards him. With a slip of her hand over her skirt and along the knot of her top, the chief stood naked before the demigod.

Maui's eyes squinted, his lips parting as he released a raspy groan. She resembled a goddess more than most of the goddesses he encountered in his ten thousand years of life. Her small, perky breasts balanced deliciously on her chest. Her stomach was slim and fibrous with muscle, the definition extending into her arms and her legs. Moana's eyes beckoned Maui.

"Moana," Maui's dick jumped just from uttering her name. He marched toward her in determined strides, scooping her up to her amusement, and throwing her on the sleep sack.

Moana parted her legs to either side of the sleep sack, a flexible little thing. Maui grunted at the sight of her hairless pussy glistening with arousal.

"You think you're ready for it?" Maui toyed with her, hovering over her with one hand on either side of her head.

She nodded. Maui whisked his lavalava off.

Now Moana failed to move any part of her body except for her eyes running over his full, massive dick. "Wow," she gasped. Her eyes coiled into themselves, an expression of nervousness passing across her face before Moana pushed Maui -- or, rather, Maui allowed himself to fall against her touch -- to the far side of the bed. His black hair framed his face as he laid on his back. She straddled his crotch, resting her pussy on his dick.

Besides these simplistic aspects of sexual activity, Moana knew nothing. She pressed her lips against Maui, who chuckled at her egregious kissing skills. He guided her with his tongue, entering and retreating her mouth like the tide through rock. Obsessed with competition, Moana battled his tongue with hers. The wayfarer emerged from within her as her tongue explored the new environment of his mouth.

Maui's hands dug into the tanned skin of her back, down to her sculpted butt. He served a few light smacks, the force meeting a layer of skin surrounding muscle. Her butt jiggled rhythmically against his touch. Moana responded by bucking her hips against his dick.

She pulled her face away from his. "I want you to _fuck_ me. Now," Moana ordered.

"You don't even know how it works, baby," Maui smirked, "and to be honest, I don't know if I'll fit in your tight, little pussy right now. Let's open you up." He pushed Moana on to her back on the other side of the bed. Maui held her chest down with a firm hand while the other snuck towards her pussy, teasing her external folds with his fingers. He slid one finger in her, matched with resistance from her pussy walls wrapping themselves around him.

"Ooooohhhhhh, Maui," she gasped the humid air in swigs.

His hand came back glistening, and he thrust a second finger in: a much more difficult feat. He slowly churned his fingers inside of her, basking in the knowledge that he was literally thrusting her to her climax.

Pain mixed with pleasure on Moana's face, but her spurt of wetness indicated Maui's victory.

***********************************************************

"I want you in me," Moana insisted, her voice curling over Maui like her hair radiating in the torchlight. These were the images she pushed back on the boat and after their adventure, categorizing them only as girlish fantasies. Now, the demigod agreed to fuck her. _Oh gods_ , she shook her head.

"Ok, but I'm going to have to talk you through it, remember?" Maui once again positioned himself over the young chief, who nodded. He took his dick in his own hands, clutching and kneading and fucking himself as he stared at Moana laying naked on _his_ sleepsack. His abs engorged and deflated with each breath, his arm muscles round like the moon.

"Let me see," Maui released himself and spread open her legs once again, positioning himself at the entrance of her sacred place, "I'm gonna go slow at--"

"No, _fast_. And _hard_." She urged him with her hands to continue.

"Princess, you don't understand how good I can give it to you. It might be too much."

"I don't care. Do it." She crossed her arms, demanding.

"It's going to hurt, but I'm right here with you," Maui said as he slid the bulging head of his dick into her pussy. Moana released a tiny whimper, her lips quivering. Maui's large dick strained her canal.

"Good girl. Still more to come," he glided in further, resulting in her high-pitched moaning. He then retracted towards the way he entered, then reversed again into her center. Trails of pleasure swirled like string inside of her. Her fingers scratched against the sleeping sack, then wrapped around his neck to pull their bodies closer and drive his dick deeper. She stared at him through half-closed eyes brown with lust.

"Now I'm gonna fuck you," Maui moved a piece of hair behind Moana's ear, then accelerated his pace. The sleeping sack met the wall with a muddled _thump thump thump_ quickening like a mist to a downpour as Maui shoved his dick deeper into Moana.

"You wanna say my name?" Maui groaned, "You feel so good on my dick."

"M-Maui," she answered, coiling her legs around his back. The demigod pressed her petite body to his, lifting them both off of the sleep sack. Still penetrating her, Maui balanced her on his dick and walked across the room to trap her against the wall.

"Gods, you're a hot little thing, aren't you?" Maui whispered as he gyrated his hips into hers. She continued to bounce on him, eyes closed in pleasure. Their passion collided, sending them to fuck on the floor as they both ascended towards their sexual peaks. Maui quickly pulled out as Moana's juices dripped down his dick.

Sweat dotting both of their faces, Maui gathered Moana in his arms on the floor of the hut.

*********************************************

"What do we do now?" Moana stared at the blue roasting into pink along the horizon, signifying the oncoming of night.

Maui turned his head towards her as they sat side by side on the sand. His voice felt empty, "I don't know."

"You don't know? What do you mean? Like I came here for _you_ , so we could be something together." Moana's voice flared.

"That's not how things workout. These aren't the stories your Grandma used to tell you--"

"Don't you _dare_ talk about her when she's dead and _you_ were one of those stories." Tears clouded Moana's eyes, her lips shriveled in contempt.

"How do you think this is going to work? You're a chief who's supposed to get married. You're a mortal, and I'm a demigod--"

"I thought you would fight for this like I fought for you." Moana glared at the ocean ahead.

"What do you want from me, Moana? You admitted it yourself earlier: you had no idea what was going to happen with us." Maui slammed his hands on the sand.

"You know, the people of my village still don't trust you. Yes, they adore you because you're a legend, but, but they don't _trust_ you. And honestly, maybe I should follow them." Moana's voice scratched at the damp air between them.

"I can't throw away who I am to be with you, Moana. I have to duties to fulfill. I can't be playing mommy-daddy-family with you in your happy little village. That's not reality." Maui's voice sounded the same to Moana as when he rejected her offer to live in Motonui: tender and sincere.            

"You think I want you to _marry_ me?" Moana snapped.

"Maybe not now, but in a few years, yes. Why else would you come here to see me the same night your dad announced you were looking for a husband?" Maui implored, all traces of humor and egotism washed off, "and I can't be that person for you."

Moana shook her head, tears coating her cheeks. "Why, why not? Not even saying I wanted to marry you, I just wanted you in the moment, I--"

"Because I've lived on this earth for ten thousand years, and will for many more. I have duties as a demigod. I see how life turns into death and I don't want to see that with you. I don't want to be with you knowing I will be alone again."

"Did, did you just _use_ me for sex?" The question tumbled out of Moana's mouth.

Maui shoved his eyes to the sand, "no, no; I do care about you, but--"

Moana nodded with anguish. "You really are a trickster. You probably didn't feel anything at all."

"I flew to Motonui to see you; of course I feel something."

"But as soon as those feelings become too much for you, that's when you end things. That's why you were alone for so long. You love the attention of fans you don't know and random children who know about you because they're not close to you. Then, when someone like me comes along and makes you feel something, you get scared. Yes, you the trickster demigod, get scared." Moana sobbed, her words curling in on themselves like shreds of leaves burning in the fire.

"You don't get it. You're a child. If you felt the way I felt, abandoned by my own parents, only saved by the grace of the Gods, you'd be reserved, too. How am I supposed to let people in when my own parents didn't love me? Sorry that I'm not as privileged as you on your happy little island, where your biggest problem is being picky about the guys who want to marry you. My biggest problem was overcoming the hate and anger I felt because I was a reject from the start, and still am. Just get out, honestly." Maui slapped the sand with his palm and stalked off towards his hut, leaving Moana to slip into her ocean bubble and scrape the sea floor all the way to Motonui.

           


	6. Considerations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana and Tal work on a new project together, and Tal is interested in more than just her body. Maui asks the Gods about his emotional mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight smut warning! I would also just like to say that I am NOT of Polynesian descent, but I tried my best to incorporate the roles of the Gods/their personalities from prior research into this story. However, I'm biracial (half-Asian and half-white), so I know how annoying cultural appropriation. If I have offended anyone, I sincerely apologize/PLEASE COMMENT BELOW!

The sun shook itself onto the ocean, sprinkling splotches of pink and blue on the waves drifting towards shore. Moana stepped through the parting water and strode onto the sand. Villagers cleaned up after the night's dinner as the sun experienced its final collapse against the ocean. Moana's curly locks shrouded her eyes from the stares of on-looking villagers whispering.

Moana's father, Tui, grabbed her arm as she strode past remnants of baked fish and bread and the soiled wooden plates and utensils of the villagers. "Where'd you go, Mo? And why in the darkness of night?" His tone was earnest, seeping with concern.

Moana lifted her creamy brown eyes to meet her father's gaze. Her voice fell over itself, "I, I..." She searched the hoards of people gazing at her for a lie. Her eyes connected with Tal's, another bout of lust plummeting up her stomach into her chest, the first time seeing him since their escapade last night. "I tried to find a papaya grove Tal told me about."

Tal's dark eyes brimmed with desire, but his lips opened in confusion. All the villagers turned their gaze to Tal, expecting an explanation. "Yes," his voice filled with seriousness, "I did notify Moana that there is a papaya grove on the far side of the island."

"But, your note said you were going to a _different_ island," Tui pressed.

Moana felt a flush dizzy her, sprinkling red across her cheeks at Tal's stare and her twisted lie. "Yes, you're right. I wanted to scope out if there were any other papaya groves on the small chain neighboring islands bordering the side of the island where the papaya grove is. I didn't want you all to follow me since I knew you wouldn't like my trekking alone, so I left when you all were asleep."

Tui nodded his head. "Oh, well, Tal, I believe you and Moana should configure a map and plan out a path so we can eventually harvest the seeds from the far trees and plant a grove nearby."

Visualizing individual time with Tal intimidated and aroused Moana. Heat skidded up the inside of her thighs to her place of passion. She gulped. "Sounds good. We will start working on it right away."

*****************************************

The night rocked outside of Moana's hut, the moon dripping itself onto the wooden floor. She curled in the small tub of water she heated over the fire earlier, scrubbing her skin and mind of Maui's touch.

Maui, a damaged demigod, was once a complete mortal. He experienced the painful and joyous threads of life even into immortality. The cunningness he possessed, the trickery and the fables deemed factual circulating the island -- Moana idealized Maui as an immortal snake since her childhood. The possibility of the demigod enacting a facade of ardor for Moana sent shreds of disgust through her body. This was the conflict of human passion: balancing lust and love.

Was the young chief unworthy of a demigod's ardor? He mastered the art of trickery thousands of years ago, the epithets of "princess" and "baby" and professing her sexualized her body in his mind all gathering to supplement this. Maui deceived Moana: not even classified as a betrayal since he never pledged his heart to her.

A creak sounded from across the hut. Moana looked up to see Tal's large figure looming in the doorway. She sighed as he pushed back the curtain and entered.

His eyes dissolved into themselves at her naked breasts glistening with moisture above the water line of the bath. Her hair curled against itself in a messy bun on the top of her head.

"What do you want, Tal?" Moana huffed a stray piece of hair away from her face.

"Smooth talking there earlier today, chief. Where'd you really go last night?" He wore no shirt and only canvas shorts, collapsing onto her sleep sack and propping himself up with a hand.

"That's none of your business," she answered.

"Well, judging, from those marks on your chest, I think you left our little rendezvous to visit someone _else_." Tal tapped his fingers against her sleeping sack.

"So?" Her eyes trickled down his neck to his firm chest and defined abs. Oh Gods, she reveled in pride at attracting him to her hut.

"I wasn't finished with you last night." Tal stood up and half-flexed and half-stretched his arms above his head. His eyes flitted against hers, unsure, awaiting her response. Was she _intimidating_ him?    

Moana repressed the images of Maui repeating themselves in her mind. This would be retribution. This would undo Maui like he undid her. Maui proved the meaninglessness of sex, so why not apply the same mentality with Tal? She grinned, "I think we should work on this papaya grove path _first_."

Tal strode across the room as Moana steadied herself to a standing position. She stepped over the edges of the tub, drying herself with a blanket. She threw on a long, white slip and loosened her hair from its tight bun. Tal stared at her as he laid down on her sleeping sack once again, his eyes drifting over her curves.

"Ok, chief. Should I take you there now?" He smirked.

"I think that would be best," she grinned before they both exited the hut.

*************************************

The sand soothed Moana's burning feet before Tal whisked her into his arms. She laughed against his broad chest, burying her forehead into his tanned skin. _Muscular_ , she thought, _but nothing compared to Maui_.

Tal bit his bottom lip to suppress a grin, his teeth white in the moonlight. His eyes clouded in the darkness when he looked at her. Moana wrapped her arms around his neck, noticing the lack of muscle compared to the demigod the day before. She shut her eyes and attempted to shove memory away with her hands, but she submitted: pretending she basked in Maui's touch as Tal carried her down the deserted beach.

 _Where is Maui taking me?_ Moana conjured up a random island from her memory, one of the small ones the pair rested at during their wayfaring journey. _He's taking me to a secret place, where he'll touch me and want to stay with me and we'll never leave_ , Moana's mind flung through vignettes of hidden coves only the demigod knew of, or a hill with a view of the ocean. Maui would place Moana on her lap, whisper some adventurous tale of his demigod life to impress her, move his hands down her legs...

Tal set her down minutes later at the opening of the forest on the far side of the island, shattering her reverie. The stars crushed against the night sky in little clusters, and Moana failed to find Maui's hook due to the trees overhead. Villager rules prohibited anyone from passing the ridge to their left, but Tal disobeyed and led Moana into the moonkissed forest.

The trees hummed with nocturnal animals, little spies listening to Moana and Tal's words. "It's a while away from this part right here, but I wanted to show at least where to start." He sighed, out of breath from exertion.

"Ok, so--" Moana started to configure the length of time to clear trees to cut a path, but Tal pressed her against the trunk of a tree. Moana gasped as he inched his hand up her thigh, disregarding the silky slip clinging to her otherwise bare body.

"You wanna go again, chief?" He whispered in her ear, his enlarged dick urgent against her stomach. He placed his other hand against Moana's slim waist.

Maui discarded her like drift wood. She wouldn't be a victim of his trickery again, so she dove her tongue into Tal's mouth. His mouth tasted bitter unlike Maui's saltiness, but she twisted her tongue with his. Deeper and deeper, slashing back into his mouth as Moana attempted to wipe away Maui's imprint on her. _Not Maui, not Maui_ , she wrangled her lips against his.

The images of the demigod clung to her mind and her body alike, her hands gripping into air in search of Maui's curls. Her body crested into Tal's like ships gliding with the waves. His dick throbbed at her side, but she ignored his body's pleas for attention. She could not compromise her emotional attachment to Maui simply for revenge.

Moana unstuck herself from Tal's grip, his eyes devouring her. "What's wrong?" His deep voice sunk into Moana's ear.

"I don't want to go anywhere further with this unless we're, we're..." Moana fiddled with her words, once again configuring an excuse.

"Unless we're going to get married." Tal sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Ummm..."

"In that case, I will consider _formally_ courting you." Tal brushed off Moana's shock.

"No, no I really didn't mean that! I don't want to get married!" Moana blubbered.

Tal chuckled to himself, "Ok, chief. Whatever you say."

"I just thought that--"

"Yeah, you're hot as hell, and you know it," Tal leaned into Moana once again, her face burning a bright pink, "but I also know that you're looking for a husband. I need to find a woman soon, too. And, well, we both seem to be compatible on more levels than one..."

Moana stepped away from Tal who leaned with his arms crossed against the trunk of the tree, peering down at her with lustful eyes. "So think about it. Me and you. And if you're not going to let me have you tonight, I might as well get some sleep." He turned away towards the beach, beckoning Moana to follow him home.

******************************************************

Maui slipped the last loop of knot and pulled, erecting the massive sail. He needed to talk to the Gods atop the portal of the Realm of Monsters concerning his attraction to a mortal, so he completed his boat in only hours. _This wasn't part of the deal, having mortal feelings, but being immortal,_ he grumbled internally as he twisted Moana in his mind. Her body splayed across his sleeping sack, the dimples developing in between her cheeks and chin: he wondered how he refrained from touching her on their journey.

Day melted into night, the shore line churning into the vast ocean. He forgot about the desolation of voyaging alone, since the last time he utilized the stars and currents to track his location was with Moana. He let out a _pffffft_ between his teeth and lower lip. With the resurrection of dawn, Maui noticed the juts of the gray rock leading to the Realm of Monsters. He docked against the rocky shore, slinging his hook over his back and hauling himself up the massive crag.  

Maui admired the view of blue stretching from horizon to horizon, lifting his arms up to shake out any soreness. Nostalgia wept over him as he remembered Moana insisting that she join him in the Realm of Monsters. He wept and smiled, recollecting himself before raising his hook overhead and raising his gaze to the sky. "Good Gods, I am in a very difficult dilemma with a mortal. I request your guidance."

The sky quaked open, a burst of light sprinkling from the light blue overhead. The chatter of the gods reigned down upon him, and he smiled to himself.

"Maui, trickster demigod, you decided to return home! And what is your business asking of us Gods?" The thunderous voice of Rangi, supreme creator god and god of the sky, boomed from above.

"Well, Rangi, I am curious: what is the policy on being with a mortal?" Maui wrung his hands together and slouched down to his knees.

"What do you mean _being_ with a mortal?" Supreme creator goddess Po implored, her tone soft.

"He _means_ love and lust, _obviously_ ," Kane, god in charge of creation and growth, chuckled, "and here, we suggest you distance yourself from any mortals who have sparked your romantic interest."

Maui sighed. "Well, why do I have such, such _strong_ emotions for her? If I'm immortal, how is that even possible?"

The chatter resumed before Rangi cleared his throat. "Maui, you were _born_ mortal. We have the power to turn mortal to immortal and vice versa. If you so willingly insist that you be with this mortal, you must relinquish your powers and turn mortal again."

Maui deflated to the ground, growling in anguish at the idea of renouncing his title as demigod and the magical abilities of his hook. "Can't you, can't you turn her immortal?" He peered up from underneath his untamed mane.

Kane's bubbly voice sounded from the burst of light. "This isn't what life and immortality are about. You can't just request that someone be immortal because you want it that way. Even if this person is the most extraordinary--"

"It's Moana." Maui said her name defensively.

"Even _Moana_." Po answered back.

"Go, be with Moana. Choose to watch her die before you if you choose to stay immortal, or give away your powers and be one of her kind once again." Rangi chimed in.

"Is this all, demigod Maui?"

"Yes, Gods. Thank you." Maui sighed. The sky swallowed itself up into regular blue once more, causing Maui to shrug in confusion meshed with frustration, kicking a few pebbles off of the overhang to sprinkle into the ocean below. He descended the rock, grumbling to himself as he set sail for Motonui.


	7. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana gets a surprise from her favorite demigod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so humbled by the amount of hits/support I have received from all of you within days of publishing this. Please don't underestimate the brevity of this chapter; it may be short, but it includes thickening of the plot and LOTS of tension. Enjoy :)

Moana ate a late lunch with some of the other villagers, chewing on some sweet bread as she sat at the chief's place at the head of the long table. The villagers chatted about the weather, crop harvests, and any other tales they desired. Burying herself in the companionship of her people distracted the chief from thoughts of Maui. As Moana stood up to grab another piece of sweet bread and some berry mash, Tal stormed through. His eyes indicated he slept poorly the night before, his hair spraying out from his head in bursts of dark brown. He glared at Moana, a mix of frustration and passion, before heading towards her.

"What are you _doing_ ," she turned away from him, plopping more food onto her plate as he trudged over.

"Did you miss me, chief?" He dropped his hand to brush the fabric across her upper thigh.

"Stop, someone's going to notice what you're doing," Moana snapped before returning to her seat.

Tal responded with a deliberate, tense stare as he sat at the far end of the table. Many villagers raised up out of their seats to stare down the beach as hoards of villagers ran towards them. Curious, Moana rushed over to the beach along with everyone else. There, docked on the far side of the island, was a mid-sized sailboat. There, striding down the beach as if he governed Motonui himself, was Maui arm-in-arm with Moana's father, Tui.

Moana's lips parted, then curled into an expectant smile. Her chest brimmed with soft, glowing passion as her heart pulsed rhythmically like the waves before her. Maui failed to notice her standing less than one hundred yards away, but as he approached, she admired his hulking figure and feral hairstyle. This was Maui's specialty, Moana reminded herself bitterly: creeping closer and closer to people, engaging their deep emotions, then releasing them like fish to the sea.

Eventually, Maui stared straight ahead at Moana, stumbling as his large feet sunk in the sand. His eyes buzzed brown in earnest, but Moana detected the tinge of lust in his eyes crinkling down her chest and stomach. She turned her head to look at Tal standing next to her. Maui connected her gaze to Tal's, stopping a few feet away. Maui's fists clenched, but he fought to maintain a respectable image by wrangling a grin on his face and fury boiling in his eyes.

A tinge of satisfaction ran through Moana. _You could've had this, Maui. You could've lived here, and possibly pursued me, and had me whenever you wanted, just like Tal._ She smirked to herself before running a hand through her hair. "Good to see you, Maui." She masked the hurt in her voice as she whispered, enveloping the demigod in a hug. He mechanically wrapped his arms around her back, his skin heaving with the heat of fresh anger. Moana recognized his desire -- and ability -- to hurt Tal, but remained apathetic. Tal served as a placeholder for her sexual tensions and marital aspirations before she scouted another potential candidate.

Moana released him, and the end of their contact reminded her of his capabilities as a master manipulator. She stepped closer to Tal to her right, who noticed and grinned to himself. Moana knew Maui seethed in rage from his tapping toes, but he flaunted a wide grin and said, "Thank you for welcoming me!"

The crowd of people dotting the beach hollered and applauded, their first contact with the demi god. Moana heard a few women whisper about his handsomeness, commenting on his arms and hair. She seethed in bitterness and lust for the half-man half-god she handed her emotions to, who flicked them away with his fingers.

"Well, I think a feast is in order," Moana motioned to the villagers, "we should start preparing for dinner now." Throngs of people hurried off to various parts of the island to hunt, harvest, and cook the massive amounts of food needed to feed the village. Although she fluctuated between disgust and passion for Maui, she still needed to maintain a respectable image with her community and display the vivacity of her village.

A cluster of children surrounded Maui, clinging to his legs and wriggling their tiny hands over Maui's tattoos. "Maui, tell us all the stories about monsters and Moana!" They squeaked, dancing giddily. Maui grinned, squatting down to attempt to even himself with the children.

Moana watched as if stumbling upon a rare, untamed animal. Maui's tenderness with the children, his unfiltered happiness to talk with them, the way he pinned awestricken expressions and youthful grins to their faces -- he reminded her of the compassion he displayed wringing the islands out from the ocean and placing the sun in the sky. Was it all a false image, fables passed down from mouth to mouth?

"Maui," she said his name like an old oath she no longer abided by, "you can take them to the school house." She walked through the village to the one-room hut grounded on stilts. A trail of children followed, grasping Maui's hands and pulling him along. Maui needed to crouch to fit through the short doorway.

"Sit down everyone, and Maui will tell you all of his lovely stories," Moana tilted her head to the children who swarmed her legs and arms with their affection. They obliged, forming a semi circle and waiting for the demigod to join them.

"Hey, I know things are weird between us, but just know that I really needed to come here. I don't--" Maui ran a large hand through his hair, but Moana flung her hand in front of his face.

"Just, just don't," Moana shut her eyes and bit her lip, "I have to go." She fled from Maui's company like waves retreating to the depths of the ocean. Maui peered from out of the door of the hut, watching as Moana trotted off to who he assumed was Tal -- leaning against a hut and waiting for Moana. His nostrils flared in fury, the idea of Moana alone with another man swelling his other thoughts shut. Glancing around the room at the expectant children, he regained control and flew into a tale about a demigod meeting a girl and their adventures on the open sea.


	8. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feminism rocks, and so does Moana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about making a separate, current-day fanfiction set in Hawaii with characters based off of/closely related to Maui and Moana. I think their dynamic is so unique, along with their situation. I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate that into a plot that is realistic/makes sense in modern times? Let me know if that would be something to invest in!

As Moana and Tal walked in silence to the edge of the forest for the potential path to the secret papaya grove, Tal huffed a loud breath from his mouth. "It was him, wasn't it?" His dark eyes flitted from Moana's to her patterned crop top hiding her perky breasts.

Moana shifted from one hip to the other, crossing her arms over her chest. She sucked in her lip, then nodded. "Yeah. I don't want to talk about it. Let's just get this work over with," she waltzed to the edge of the forest, stepping through thick undergrowth.

"Did you fuck?" Tal's shoulders slipped farther down than normal. He scrubbed his dark hair with his hands, his chest heaving, "impressive if you did, considering you're a mortal."

She sighed and collapsed against the sand, defeated. She dipped her head into her hands, her voice quivering like petals of the flowers on the trees. "You looked at me the way he used to look at me, and I didn't know he wanted me like you wanted me, and I had been thinking about him _a lot_. He, he made me feel something for the first time. Then, I told him, we did things, and he didn't want me after that. Now he's here, and I didn't even ask him to come. He just--"

"I didn't ask you for an explanation, chief," Tal flicked a piece of grass off of his shoulder, "You do realize there's a difference between feelings and fucking, right?" He scoffed, still standing next to her.

Moana's eyes glistened with the moisture of tears, large and brown and sopping with humiliation. Why did his tone shift from curious to condescending? "I'm never going to let a boy, especially _you_ , make me feel like I'm not capable of things. Maui doubted me at first, then we got his hook back and saved this island. So, Tal, if you _ever_ think I'm going to let you touch me again, you're wrong." Moana snarled, her cheeks reddening with rage. Her soft disposition shifted to a fiery fury.

Tal grinned. "Ok, ok, relax. It was just a joke. Don't make promises you can't keep," he bit his lip, his eyes twisting over her bare legs from her hiked up skirt.

Moana glared up at him, defiant, "Whatever. Let's just go figure this path out."

***********************************

"The best part of the entire thing? It wasn't even fighting off the little coconut warriors, or tricking the crab man, or finding my hook. It was one of those simple things that make you happy, so happy you can't get it out of your brain... so you decide to tell people about it.

"So there you two are, all alone with the setting sun and the water lapping against the boat. It sounds like a drum, or when you hear your heart beating really slowly before you fall asleep. But you're going really fast and slow at the same time, and every day eats into itself so it feels the same, but you know you're definitely going somewhere.

"And you realize that the person you're with, the one you've been riding along with this entire time, who you really didn't like at first, is now close to you. I mean close. As close, as close... as close as my tattoos on my skin. So pretty close. You start to enjoy being around someone because they make you feel like you've always wanted to feel. You feel like you're a different person, even though you were the same person for thousands of years.

"And that's it. That was my favorite thing." Maui exhaled, and the children stared at him, mesmerized by his tale-weaving. They clapped their tiny hands. Maui grinned back, basking in the attention.

"That was a _really_ good story, Maui," Moana leaned against the door way, her voice tinkling like seashells in the surf, "now, can everyone thank Maui for sharing?"

Maui's head snapped back to stare at the chief, her slim figure dark against the incoming sunlight. He ran a hurried hand through his hair, embarrassed if she heard any part of his story. The children bounded towards him, clutching his arms and leaning into his broad chest. Despite the palpable tension both thrusting and dragging them together and away, Moana smiled.

"Why don't you kids go run off so I can talk to Maui alone?" Moana instructed, the children pouring out of the school house and running through the village.

The air stifled with heat between them, the school house void of any noise. The pair drank eachother in, the first time alone since their escapade. Maui's face appeared defeated, furrowing with fingers of longing in his forehead. Moana sighed and sat next to him.

"Why did you come here?" Moana huffed, defensive like a wild dog.

"You know why," Maui reached his fingers to brush the back of her palm, but she recoiled. He turned his head away, running his eyes over the far wall grieved with shadows and trickles of light.

"Honestly, I don't know. You say you want me and then you don't, then come back acting like everything is clear. Well, I've learned that I'm not just at your disposal. You think I'm that same girl who came to your island that day. I'm not, and I won't let you or any other person define what I can and can't do." Moana pummeled him with words, each like the spearhead of an arrow pricking into his back.          

He faced her, eyes writhing with torment. Moana glided her eyes over his, drifting down his neck to his muscles tense with sentiment. She glanced at his tattoo of her, the enormous heart still engulfing her figure, before cringing at the memory of the uncomplicated journey pinning the pair together.

"I came back because I need to tell you something," Maui stared into her eyes, sipping on her stare like spring water, tempted to slid his lips against hers and end the conversation entirely. Moana's eyes mixed with confusion and pain -- no lust. Maui refrained from moving his hand to her cheek.

"Just say it," Moana's mouth moved, the words tumbling to the floor like spilt seeds.

"I talked to the Gods," he tossed the sentences to her, one at a time, softly, "and I told them how much I care for you. I said I wanted to be with you, and how to do that as an immortal."

Moana shut her eyes, drowning out his face from her vision. She preferred the darkness over the face of the demigod who slayed her emotions. The twisting of sentiment, the leaping from desire to desire -- Moana felt overwhelmed.

"I can't make you immortal, and neither can they. But, they said, if I wanted to... that they could make me mortal again."


	9. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui proposes a plan to Moana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want a quick fix, this story isn't it; let the angst continue :) Also, this is my imagination of what a courting process would be like in Polynesian culture -- and is subject to my own interpretation of it. As I mentioned in a previous chapter, I do not in any way condone cultural appropriation (I'm a minority, so I know how annoying all this racist and microagression stuff is). Please let me know if I should make any corrections! I truly apologize if I offended anyone!
> 
> Also, somehow the section about Maui meeting with the Gods talking about what to do about his feelings for Moana was completely cut out of Chapter 6?! I just added it; go back and check it out if you want!

Moana's eyes popped open, searching for his face in the shadows of the hut. Her face wrapped tightly against itself in visible anguish. A trick, or the truth? She shook her head, her hair whipping him in the face. "Why would I let you back in?"

Confusion swept over Maui like fog. He imagined this moment as the passionate mashing of their bodies as a single vehicle, the dampness of their skin, clothes undone and raspy moans. "This is the part when you're supposed to come back to me, be with me forever..." Maui motioned with his hands in a didactic manner, as if this relationship involved him instructing Moana like wayfaring.

Moana sucked her lower lip in, eyes furious and tinged with ardor. "No, I'm not _supposed_ to do anything with you. You don't get to just come back and win me over. Like you said, that's not how things work. If you want me, then it's going to take time. And the whole marriage thing..."

Maui's chest heaved from the rejection. "So, marriage... what's the deal with that? Aren't you going to wait like you said? I wasn't exactly _proposing_ to you or anything..." He flicked the words from his mouth, dejected. This was a new sensation for the demigod.

Moana rolled her eyes. "I wasn't expecting you to propose to me: like you yesterday. I don't want to get married, and not to someone like you who treats me like I'm nothing -- and Tal said he's considering formally courting me," she sighed. Maui couldn't tell whether this grieved or excited her. Fury developed, arching itself across his chest as he huffed in.

" _Tal_. You're telling me you're going to let _Tal_ pursue you? The guy obviously just wants to fuck. He's a total ass hole. You _know_ I care about you," Maui scanned her face for emotion, but nothing arose -- just Moana's expressionless stare to the far side of the hut.

"Well, we fucked and then you just let me go, so what's the difference?" Moana pressed, eyes ragged with palpable torment. Finally, a reaction from the young chief.          Maui contemplated her response, but her long eyelashes dewy with sadness and the curve of her bottom lip distracted him. My Gods, he restrained every muscle in his body from lunging on top of her.

Moana watched his eyes move over her body, calculating the tightness of her skin against her muscles, the light flush over her cheeks. She craved him for a moment, only to release the idea like wiping sand off of her hands. "No, Maui. I won't let you come back and just touch me like I'm one of your fan girls or something you let sit around for centuries." She stood up, strode out of the room, and left Maui to wrangle with her words in the darkness of the hut.

****************************************

Moana isolated herself from the rest of the village until the formal commencement of the feast, washing her clothes in the hot spring nestled a little ways into the forest and hanging her garments on a nearby tree. The sky sprinkled night against itself, throbbing with purple and a pitter of damaged dusk light. The dinner horn blew, and villagers scrambled to resume their places at the long table. A flower-wrapped chair was placed at the far end -- directly opposite of Moana's seat at the head of the table.

Maui smiled at the villagers, conversing with some young women around Moana's age as they strolled to their seats. A tinge of envy fluttered in Moana's deep brown eyes, and Maui glanced at Moana -- recognizing this. He then allowed his stare to return to her coral-colored dress billowing against her feet, lilies placed in her hair and dark paint lining her eyes. Her demeanor reminded the demigod of a jaguar: reserved at times, yet knowledgeable of her own desires, powerful, captivating to the eye. Maui sighed as the table separated their bodies.

Moana's eyes flitted to Tal, sitting a few seats down from the chief. Her eyes wound against his, sensing the other. Maui stirred in his seat, Moana clearing her throat.

"Thank you, everyone," she grinned at her villagers, "for putting together an impromptu feast. We thank the Gods for bringing Maui to celebrate with us, and we honor his presence with this meal. Let us feast!"

At these last words, the villagers rose from their seats and proceeded to the table garnished with food. Everyone allowed Maui the first spot, and with pride, he gathered different dishes onto his plate. Moana observed him, his charisma glimmering off of his body with the torchlights as he returned to his seat. He hulked over even the most muscular men of the village, his personality as large as his body. _Yes, yes, I want Maui_ , Moana admitted to herself, _but he can't treat me like I'm nothing_.

As the line progressed, and everyone chowed down on fried fish, fruit salads, and bread, a group of young percussionists performed a drum sequence to the amusement of all of the villagers. This was the Motonui that Maui rejected, the warmth of fresh meals, the camaraderie, the talent, the pride in belonging to a community of refreshing and dedicated citizens. Moana rolled this idea around in her mind, gazing at Maui as he bit into a leg of meat and chuckled at something someone said. The feast concluded, villagers bowing to Maui and praising him for conquering the seas with their chief. Maui nodded his head, appearing genuinely grateful for the compliments. Moana debated whether this, too, was an act.

Following the feast, Moana retrieved her clothes off of the clothesline by the spring. She relished in the rustling of branches against eachother, soft humming of insects on leaves. After collecting her clothes in a woven basket, she watched as streams of heated mist swept off of the hot spring water. She stripped off her dress, placed her torch in the ground, and waded into the water naked.

A large _snap!_ accompanied by a low grunt twisted Moana's head towards the path. Maui stared at her, gnawing on her bare body with his eyes. Moana shook her head before pressing her eyes over his hefty chest and bulging arms, the definition even more pronounced with the orange glow of the torchlight. The lust lingered between them like the scent of night rain on the land in the morning.

"What are you doing here?" Moana covered her breasts by crossing her arms.

"Can we _please_ talk?" Maui's voice nudged into her, sending quakes down her shoulders. He slipped off his lavalava to reveal his limp manhood, large even without arousal. Maui padded through the water towards here, the steam shrouding his head like arms. The water crept up his skin, above his hips as he reached Moana. He allowed a bubble of space to rot between them, begging to relinquish itself to their touches.

"There's nothing to say," Moana brushed her hair behind her shoulder, allowing her breasts to hang unexposed. The air tickled her nipples, hardening them. Maui ran his eyes over her chest and slim stomach. A chink of Moana's firm exterior broke off as the impulse to pounce onto Maui tormented her.

"I can't promise you marriage, or that we fall in love, or that we work out at all. But I can promise you that the will and want is there, that I, I can at least try," Maui turned his head away at these last words, tender with earnest.

"How do you plan on doing that?" Moana's eyes melted soft at his words, caressing her without placing his fingers on her supple skin.

"Well, I could live here. I could help your people navigate and create things and discover new parts of the island. I could... _court_ if that's something, you, you know... wanted..." he ran a large hand through his curly locks.

Moana was dumbfounded. Was Maui suggesting _formally_ courting her? And accepting her long-ago discarded offer to form a new life on Motonui with her people?

"You do realize, if you court me, you're going to have to get permission from my father. And considering we were on a boat together for awhile, _alone_..." Moana's words sliced into him. Was this a fatal and faulty idea?

"I've lived for ten thousand years. I've seen a lot of things. If we could do all that before, saving this island and fighting off Tamatoa and even sharing a small boat together when we didn't really get along... I think we can try to make this something real," Maui tackled her waist with his hands, possessive and urgent.

"How do I know this isn't all some joke, some game. You _are_ the master trickster. I don't want to fall for it all again," Moana shrugged out of his grasp, although she craved it.

"Because if this all works, the Gods can turn me into a mortal again," Maui pleaded with her, "you need to trust me."

"I'm willing to try, but, but... I still feel something for Tal," Moana closed her eyes to avoid seeing Maui's disgust, "I can't turn down the other suitors so easily. I have to give them each their fair chance, and so, that kind of means... it will be hard for us to be mutually exclusive if you end up proposing."

Maui grunted, slashing the water with his fist, "This is the problem I tried to avoid by not staying here at first. I knew I would have to watch you flirt with other men, knew it'd kill me. What if you want to marry someone else, or choose Tal over me? Can't you just full out reject all of them?"

"That's not the courteous thing to do. I'm not going to act like I don't think Tal's attractive. He, he tried to _do_ things with me when I came back, and I was going to, but I kept imagining it was you that was touching me," Moana cringed.

Maui glared down at her, eyes deep in rage, "What did you do with him?" 

She bit her lips, "He came to my hut unannounced, saw me naked, carried me to the forest, pinned me up against a tree, kissed me, then I told him to stop. I couldn't handle that it wasn't you." 

A growl rumbled from Maui's throat, "If he  _ever_ touches you in front of me..." 

Maui's protectiveness turned Moana on, but also expressed his depth of emotion for her. "Look, I can't just stop being attracted to Tal. This all could come crashing down. I need to go through the formal courting process with other men. What if you end up not wanting me, or I end up not wanting you? It goes both ways, Maui. You could, could fall in love with someone else here..." Moana's words trailed off, engulfed by the hiss of the hot springs. 

"So, are we at least going to try, or not?" 

"Yes," Moana nodded, "and the first thing to do is to get you a hut." 


	10. Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui and Moana have some fun in the hot springs, but Moana is a tease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight smut and some romance

"Honestly, the first thing I want to do has nothing to do with huts..." Maui's voice rumbled with the bubbling of the hot springs. Droplets fizzled across the surface, heat wrinkling against itself and swallowing Moana's face in a mist. He placed both of his hands on the slippery rock wall behind her.

Moana crushed her lips together in a compact line. She raised her eyes to his, the moon reflecting white across brown. Maui sensed her hesitation. He stepped back, dropping his arms to his sides in defeat.

"Ouch," the demigod cringed, patting his hand playfully against his chest, "I thought you'd want to, you know--"

Moana tilted towards him, capturing his words in her mouth, her lips an eager net. His tongue wrapped around hers, snaking in and out. Steam tinkled between their bodies. Maui drew the chief towards him, two hands on her bare butt. Their worlds combined and collapsed in on themselves, a massive surrender. Moana lifted her hands to latch on to the back of his neck, hoisting herself up onto his hips.

Maui's dick throbbed. "Is fucking during courtship allowed?" Maui leaned his forehead against hers, their noses brushing at the tips. His breath burned against Moana's cheeks.

"Not tonight, Big Maui," Moana shook her head, sliding off of him. His dick relished in the gliding sensation of her body mashing against his. "Remember when you wanted me to call you that? Weirdo," she smirked, flicking water at his chest.

Maui hunched forward in frustration, crossing his arms over his burly chest. Why did the chief continue to reject his advances? The sexual tension stringed between them like a massive spider web, twisting until they both hung immobile in their own sentiments.

"Listen, I don't think it's good for me to handing myself over to you. Yeah, we like to do stuff with each other. But maybe it's best if we... go back to before for a little while. Start over and move through slowly, start getting to know each other as more than friends..." Moana fiddled with her small hands.

Maui experienced a tightening across his chest, like someone played tug-of-war with each arm. His eyes swirled like the steam from the hot spring, violent and dark. "You keep throwing out punches tonight, don't you, Princess?" He huffed, visibly dejected.

Moana stuttered. Was she forcing too much seriousness onto her relationship with the demigod? "Well, I, I--"

"You want serious Maui? You want me to take you out and show you how stately I can be? Well, Curly, challenge accepted," Maui turned away and strode out of the water to slip his lavalava back on.

"Maui, _please_ , you're getting the wrong--" Moana followed him, skipping to his side, still naked. He avoided the looking at her, craning his neck to away.

"I'm gonna make you want me," the words hung between them, Maui's tone somewhat somber.

"I _do_ want you. But this is my village now. I decide how things are run, and courtship is going to remain the same process as before. I can't and don't want to change my culture so that you can fuck me whenever you want and say it's enough to be something."    

Moana knew she defeated him when he snatched Moana's torch from standing in the ground and marched towards the path. Moana shrugged her dress on, picked up her basket of clothing, and sprinted after him.

"You don't even know where you're going!" She yelped, jumping on his back. She clenched her arms around his neck and snaked her legs above his hips.

"Stop teasing me," Maui growled, throwing the torch down on the dirt and allowing the fire to fizzle out. Her still-wet limbs against his skin drenched him in fiery lust.

"Why did you do that?" Moana shouted at him, motioning towards the unlit torch at his feet.

"You know why."

"Just go. I'll show you where you're sleeping until your hut is finished," Moana slid her foot down his abs to his engorged dick. The sinew resisted her touch, resilient against her soft caresses. Maui shuddered, bowing to the sensations sparking up his body. He lumbered down the path, still in the shadows of the forest, as Moana increased her tempo to a hearty pounding against his dick.

Maui paused, then sank back into a grassy patch behind the bushes just off of the path. He lowered himself to sitting, Moana hopping off of his back, then laying. His dick loomed tall and meaty. Moana eyed it in the glistening moonlight circling in through the trees.

"I'm doing everything in my power to not take you right now," Maui sighed. The muscles contracted in his neck, the demigod withholding the movement of his hands to her glowing skin slippery with white starlight.

Moana, on all fours, nestled her petite body in between Maui's side and his arm. "I should probably take you to the guest hut. We have it all prepared for you," her fingers climbed up to this chest, rubbing the splotches of ink narrating the stories of his thousands of years of life. The trees guarded them from the village, the sky, and any relation to their surroundings beyond the grove.

"Is it your hut?" Maui turned his head to admire her, curled up like a child grasping onto their favorite bedtime quilt. The features of youth tipped off of her since their voyage. Her noise crested slightly, large eyes roaming against the darkness -- constantly exploring. No wonder her parents utilized a formal dating system for the chief: her beauty surpassed physicality, radiating from her like an aura. Maui stared at her, mouth falling open, surrendering.

Moana hid her smirk by burying her face into Maui's arm, reveling in the scent of his sun-shaken skin, coconuts, salt water, and man. The smell grasped onto her memory, transporting her to their days wayfaring: snippets of the people they were before all of this circulating like warm air in her mind.

"What're you thinking about, Curly?" Maui's stern voice pulled at her.

"Nothing. Let's take you to the guest hut," she lied. If Moana yielded to her words, a bundle of premature thoughts would trickle out of her mouth like water, uncontainable: how his undeniable handsomeness tackled her when she first met him, how she wanted to impress him, how she wished she could lie on that Gods-damn boat with him and traverse the seas. These realizations would've murdered the unfiltered passion floating amongst them, so she barred her lips together and guided Maui to his temporary home.


	11. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More confusion for Moana as the love triangle advances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major plot twist coming up in next chapter. I'm so, so confused after writing this. Ugh. Comment please; I want to hear your reactions/what you want to happen next!

Maui trudged after Moana as she weaved in between the buildings of the village, stopping in front of a quaint, one-room hut at the edge. Torches glowed like the edges of dreams inside, inviting Maui and Moana to enter.

"After you, demigod," Moana grinned. Maui brushed past her, the subtle touch of skin against skin dizzying the chief.

"Wow. Motonui really knows how to host," Maui nodded, gazing at the plush sleep sack and wreathes of flowers adorning the walls. A few other small gifts scattered the floor. With a wisp of nostalgia, he remembered his past wish: for the villagers of Motonui to cherish him. He wilted onto his sleep sack in gratitude, exhaustion, and sadness.

"You look comfy," Moana blew him a kiss before walking towards the door, "Good night, Big Maui."

"Moana," Maui pleaded. Her steps slowed, then paused. Would Maui ask her to sleep in his hut with him, not venture the few minute walk to the opposite side of the village? He pressed these flirty questions on her earlier, and now, with the room shimmering and his muscles bulging in the light, she hoped.

"Can you put out the torches? I don't think I can get up," Maui huffed, closing his eyes.

Moana huffed, taking a cover over the flames to swallow the oxygen to put the torches out. The darkness purred around them. Moonlight seeped in, watching. Maui's tired breaths slowed. A strip of white hummed over his body.

"Is there anything else you... want?" Moana's words closed in on themselves, gasping for attention.

Maui picked his head off of the sleeping mat, "Nope. Thanks, Princess."

Moana slipped through the door, listless in the passages between huts. The curtains on doorways swerved against the night breeze, flapping like hands waving goodbye. She gazed at the moon, a loneliness sweeping over her.

Moana and Maui had agreed on slippery terms: no guarantees for their romantic future. What if Maui met another radiant young woman, and invited her to his hut, and made love to her under the tapestries and decorations Moana and her villagers hung? What if courting Moana pounded too harshly upon the demigod, and he abandoned Motonui entirely? What if Maui only regarded Moana as a doll to release his sexual frustration to?

Moana collapsed onto her sleeping sack. The darkness buzzed around her, a freezing warmth, encircling her until she lapsed into a rocky sleep.

*****************************************

"Papa! Mama!" Moana called for her parents as she strode up the steps of their hut. Morning still clung to the sky, trapped on Motonui as the sun crested towards its peak. She pulled back the curtain, sunlight traipsing onto the floor like a clumsy baby.

"Ah, my beautiful chief," Sina, Moana's mother, rose from her seated position beside her husband and embraced Moana with both of her tender arms.

"Good morning," Moana grinned, taking her father's hand as she lounged with her parents on the floor of the hut.

"We have some very serious news to share with you," Tui's eye's crinkled in anticipation, brown crests bubbling with excitement. Sina nodded.

Moana's stomach raged against her skin, "I have something to ask of you, too."

"Well, you may go first," her mother beamed.          

Moana sighed, the words plowing out of her mouth in one consistent, rapid stream, "Maui would like to ask your permission to live on Motonui with us!" Her eyes knotted, face cringing, preparing for a fiery reaction from her parents. She stared at them, analyzing their faces for acceptance.

Tui blinked, his mouth twisted as he thought. Sina's eyebrows craned in surprise.

"My, that's not what we were expecting..." Tui's voice drifted across the room, "but I personally think this is acceptable. What are your thoughts, Sina?"

"Not the most wild of your ideas, Moana... but I don't see why not. We are always eager to accept others into our community." Sina agreed.

Moana withheld an enormous, child-like grin, "So, um, what was your news?"

"We have approved of your first suitor!" Tui clapped.

"That man who told you about his papaya grove, Tal!" Sina added.

Moana gulped. _Oh, shit_ , she thought, _Maui is going to hate this._ "Great, well I will go tell Maui that he can start building his hut and getting to know the other villagers!" Moana kissed both of her parents on their foreheads before bolting to the guest hut.

**********************************

A soft hand pounded on Maui's chest. He stirred, blinking at the dark figure in front of him.

"Finally, you're awake," Moana sighed, "I have something to tell you."      

Maui grumbled, wiping his eyes, "What, what is it?" His vision adjusted to the partially-dark room. He blinked, eyeing Moana as her large eyes scanned his face.

"Hmmm, you look good today, Princess," Maui slid his gaze to her small breasts pressed against one another by her arms as she leaned over his sleep sack.

"Maui," she sighed, "my parents just approved of Tal suiting me." The words dropped out of her mouth and bounced against Maui's head.

Maui grunted, a stream of envy and fury grounding him against the wall as he sat up. "Good-for-nothing, scrawny ass--"

Moana touched his upper arm, interrupting his mouth from its grumbling. Her fingers caressed his skin, the dark edges of his tattoos. Maui melted.

"Don't be upset, because they also accepted your request to live here," she winked, a smile plastered to her face.

Excitement brimmed in the depths of Maui's stomach -- or was it hunger? "That's, that's great, Curly, but when can I... take you _out_?" His voice hovered with hesitation.

"Well, I've been thinking about it," Moana paced through the single room of the guest hut, "and, um, with Tal courting me now, and you just being allowed to move here and everything... that maybe we should keep this secret for awhile."

"What the hell, Moana," Maui groaned, clasping his hands over his face in frustration, "How then do you expect me to 'court' you if you're off with that prick?"

"Um, I guess we can disguise every outing and alone time as planning stuff or exploring or something." She tapped her finger to her plump brown lips.

"Get ready then, because tonight, tonight I'm going to take you out. Sunset on the beach. I'm going to, to, to take you somewhere on my boat," Maui thought aloud.

"Are you asking me on an unofficial date?" Moana smirked.

"No, I mean, _yes_ , I, I guess so..." Maui threw his hands in the air, "We can pretend that we're going to fish."

"Ok, _fishing_. I, um, I'll see you then," Moana blushed, her confident demeanor fading to the affect of a giddy child. Embarrassedly, she waved to Maui before fleeing the hut.

********************************

Moana traipsed through the entrance to the forest. Tal leaned against a tree, his muscles contracting as he ran a hand through his hair. Droplets of sweat collected on his shirtless chest. Moana reveled in the coolness of the shadows underneath the trees, admiring Tal's body. Tal reciprocated the stare, examining Moana with his dark, evasive eyes.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting here all morning," Tal huffed, walking a few steps away from her.

"You, you went through with it," Moana grappled the words scuttling out of her mouth, somewhat in disbelief, "You're courting me now."

Tal smirked, considering this a triumph. He ran a long, chilling fingers against her bare stomach, "Yeah, I am. Are you happy, Chief?"

Half of her body conceded, the other half resisting. His touch tantalized and terrorized her. _I can't believe I'm still into this guy_ , she shook her head. Would Maui disapprove of the flirting and quick touches between them?

"Ok, then... don't answer. Let's just go to the papaya grove. We should be there and back around dinner time." Tal turned away, dropping his finger from her skin, and parting through the thick underbrush.

The grove was nestled inside a dense wall of trees, a 30 minute walk from their starting point: most likely a 45 minute walk from the heart of the village.

"I, need, a, break," Moana huffed over halfway through their excursion there, slumping against a rock and fanning herself with her hands, "It's deadly humid under the trees here."

Tal grinned, sliding next to her so their legs touched, "What, the little chief can't take it?" His breath fluttered against her ear, and she shivered.

"I don't need you to belittle me, Tal, especially when I'm _technically_ in charge of you and your well being," Moana crossed her arms, causing her to skid slightly against his body. Once again, their playful conversations both frustrated and excited her.

"Don't be sad. I was just joking," Tal slipped his arm around Moana, moist with exertion, his fingers rubbing against her skin. She bit her lips to stop from squeaking in shock.

"Besides," he retracted his arm coolly to his side, "I never would've met with both of our parents last night to ask to court you if I really thought you weren't that tough."

"Are you _complimenting_ me?" Moana turned to him, his face inches above hers.

He stood up, stretching his muscular arms above his head, "No. Let's keep moving. We're almost there."

Moana smiled to herself, but her lips soon contorted themselves into a pout, "I really don't think I can take another step right now."

"Fine. I'll carry you. Only a few minutes away, and the trees aren't as thick ahead." Tal bit his lip at this tempting offer.

"Uh.... Ok..." Moana flushed a pale pink. Tal squatted down and she leaped onto his back. He started to trudge on as if Moana's weight didn't rest on him at all.

"Wow! How are you not tired from this?"

"You don't weigh anything," He huffed, pushing through the last barrier of trees so they stood at the edge of a tower of papaya trees. Their trunks rose to the sky, plump fruit bulging from their leafy tops. Moana hopped off of Tal's back to gaze in wonder at the beautiful shadows kissing the pair's faces and the colorful flowers bursting at their feet.

"Tal," she gasped, "this is absolutely gorgeous out here." Moana traced the ridges of a nearby trunk, then turned to the man beside her.

"Yeah, it's pretty. I thought you'd like it," Tal slipped a hand through his hair, anxious.

"Why are you so nervous right now?" Moana beamed up at him, a smile creeping across his lips.

"You, just, you..." His voice was soft like coconut fibers.

Moana patted his forearm, tan and toned from sun and labor, examining the thin hairs across his skin. The air hummed around them with palpable lust and possibly deeper emotions. She ignored it like a relentless fly, "Let's get to work."


	12. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui takes Moana on a... date? And an unexpected string from Maui's past might cause their relationship to crumble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR SMUT WARNING! Also, major plot twist at the end!

Maui drummed his fingers against the wooden tabletop. Heaps of food lathered his plate, stacked like sticks crackling under a fire. All day, he prepared the canoe for his night outing with Moana, carving new designs into its sides and painting the sail. Maui huffed, chewing his piece of pork in between his back teeth as Moana and Tal waltzed in late to dinner. His eyes boiled with jealousy, clinging to Moana's dimpled cheeks and butt bulging against the back of her skirt.

The pair split to their respective positions at the table, chatter ending with bursts of laughter as they loaded their plates with bread, salad, fish, meat, and other dishes. Tal glanced at Maui for a quick moment, a hint of victory in his dark eyes. A low growl rumbled from the back of Maui's throat. He clenched the table, muttering to himself. Moana sat across from him at the opposite head of the table. Her eyes fluttered to his, ashamed and fearful of his reaction, before resting on the food in front of her.

Dinner ended without any other incidents, except Moana's father standing from his chair and beaming down at Maui from his seat in the middle of the table. "My friends, we're going to welcome our companion Maui as a villager of Motonui. Construction will start very soon on his hut, and we are so proud he wanted to be a part of our lives."

Many villagers clapped, some of the young women squealing with excitement at the idea of the muscular demigod residing only a few huts away from them. Maui basked in the attention, per usual, flipping his black mane from his shoulders and bowing his head to his new people. As the applause and cheers heightened, he glanced at Tal, who shrugged lower into his seat and glared back.

"Hey, uh, Chief Tui?" Maui tapped the ex-chief's shoulder after everyone cleaned up their dishes, "Is it OK if I show Moana some new fishing techniques out on my boat tonight? We shouldn't be more than a few hours." A shred of anxiety filtered through Maui as he awaited Tui's response.

Moana's father turned, a shriveled smile on his lips, "Why, of course, Maui! We're so happy to have you. I'm sure Moana would love that. I know how close you two are as friends." He patted Maui's bicep before turning away.

 _Friends,_ the word cycling itself in Maui's mind. _Friends, but not lovers, but definitely more than friends_. Maui pondered this as Moana, glowing, twisted her hair in her finger and met him on the beach.

"Hi," she breathed, the last handfuls of sunlight dancing on her cheeks in a sopping pink, "Ready?" She bit her lip and clasped her hands in front of her, bowing her forehead down towards the sand beneath their toes.

"Yeah, I worked on the boat for awhile," Maui shoved a hand through his hair as they walked towards their boat that mimicked the initial one they traveled on.

"Wow," Moana glided her hand over the newly-painted sail, toying with the ropes.

"Well, let's take it out," Maui grinned, satisfied from impressing the young chief.

Moana nodded, and they both pushed the back end into the dancing waves, which hummed in happiness from the pair reunited on the seas.

"Where are you taking me?" Moana waved to her parents on shore, along with other straggling villagers.

"I'm taking you to where it all started: back to my island."

Moana turned to face him, sun stroking her cheeks and burning against her brown eyes. Her lips sucked themselves in, then puffed out, then dabbled in a shaky smile. Her expression resembled the naive yet persevering girl she once was, lost in her and Maui's powers. The trace of youth evaded her face then, Moana transforming into the young woman she currently was.

Maui continued to flash his goofy grin, muscles expanding and contracting against themselves as he pulled on the ropes to release the sail. The black designs mimicked his tattoos, swirling and twisting, writhing with anguish, swooping with euphoria against a crisp cream canvas. The wind nestled into it, guiding and pushing and billowing the fabric to its optimal shape. The ocean pressed against the boards to further steer the pair towards their destination.

Motonui crumbled out of sight. Their gazes collapsed against eachother, Maui dropping the rope to the sail and Moana hugging onto the mast for support as the vessel plunged towards their starting place. Timid and coy, Moana blinked her long lashes slowly against the sun set on fire.

"Just like old times," Moana suppressed a childish grin.

"Just like old times," Maui moved towards her, urgent now as the both the wind and the sea combined to completely control the boat.

Moana conceded, stumbling into his outstretched arms. The nostalgia whistled past both of them, drenching the horizon and their bodies in memories of the humid days and star-stretched nights, the fits and the friendship, the words neither of them admitted until months later. All of it clamped shut on this moment like a gnarled oyster protecting its pearl. The eagerness and pain radiated through both of them, shaking their tender fingers as they tussled into an emotional embrace.

"Except, this isn't like before at all," Moana's voice lifted to Maui as she wrapped her arms around his torso, his arms snaking against her back.

"No, Princess, it's nothing like before," Maui stared down at her.

"Maui," she said his name like a foreign island, "Lay down with me." The words shook from her lips, but Maui scooped them up with a swift kiss. Moana closed her eyes, tongue coiling with his. The sounds of the sea played around them like an old chant, a chant they both knew and rehearsed, a chant only existing on this boat: of the ocean slapping against the wooden boards, the tussling of wind in the sail, and their own breaths.

Maui broke away from their kiss, sliding down against the wooden floorboards to prop his head against the raised portion of the boat. Moana slumped next to him, laying on his side, and pecking baby kisses up his neck. Maui tipped his head back, dick throbbing.

"Moana," Maui pleaded, "Please." The stretches of pink light glowed eerily in his murky eyes. Moana crinkled like dried leaves against him, snaking her hands down to his lavalava. She smiled to herself as she cupped his meaty dick in her hands, kneading against his moans. Maui throbbed for her.

"Oh, yeah, just like that, baby," Maui growled. He thrust his hips up into her hands, leaning towards her to place his hot lips against her ear, "You wanna know what I'm going to do to you?"

The words pressed into her like the wind against the nape of her neck. In both arousal and nervousness, Moana placed her hands at her sides. Maui enveloped her in his powerful hold, slipping her onto his lap. She collapsed against his touch like shells dizzied by the current. Her butt rubbed against the place of his passion, and she sighed as a wave of lust oozed from her pussy.

Maui rocked her against his dick, his massive hands clenching her petite hips, "If you keep flirting like that with Tal in front of me, I'm going to have to take you right there on the dinner table to show everyone that you're mine." His tongue dug into the sensitive spot of her neck. She squirmed.

"Hmmmm, you like that, Princess? Want me to give you some more?" Maui grinned, expertly parting her legs, "Wow. Someone's really, really wet." He slid the back of his hands over her outer folds, arousal clinging to his skin.

Moana stilled, whimpering like a small, wounded animal. She shifted her butt back into him further, a heated groan splicing Maui's lips. She both loved and hated how easily she wilted for him, "I like when you talk to me like that."

Maui bit his lip, "Ummmm, you don't understand how much that kills me. That's hot that you like that."

"Shut up," Moana playfully slapped his muscular thigh.

"Did you just hit me?" Maui's voice rumbled against her.

"Yeah..."

"Bend over, Princess."

"Why? What're you going to do to me?" Moana giggled, laying face down across his lap. Her butt prodded into the air.

Maui gingerly shimmied the skirt from off of her hips to expose her tan, toned legs and perky butt. In one swift motion, he untied her top. Her small breasts bobbled against his thigh.

"Are you going to let me have you tonight, or not?" Maui swallowed as she sighed.

The sea salt clung to Moana's noses, nostalgia wafting over both of them as she sat up and stared out over the water. Going nowhere and everywhere just like before, and endless landscape of water petering out to the other side of the world. She turned her head back towards him, then looked away again. Her hair covered her eyes, a splash of brown peeking out from under her curly locks. She resumed her position in his lap, flipping her body to curl up in his lap. His dick hardened at her breasts lying limp, eyes drenched in a murkiness he failed to decipher. Her lips fell into a slight pout, eyelashes long and black, hair shrouding her angelic face. She nodded, and arousal rolled through Maui.

"I'm going to fuck you all over this boat," the words dropped out of Maui's mouth so declaratorily that Moana's face knotted in annoyance.

"OK," she rolled her eyes before curling her arms around his neck, inching her lips to almost touch his, "I'm ready."

Maui grunted. He cradled Moana in his arms, standing up and walking over towards the mast, "I'm going to fuck you against here until you can't stand. Then I'm going to fuck you on the floorboards. Once we get to my island, I'm going to fuck you in the ocean." His dark eyes traced over her body. Moana's skin tickled with heat, warmth spurting out from her pussy. She melted for her, squirming against his chest.

"Easy, Princess," Maui smirked as he disrobed, his giant dick springing from underneath his lavalava, "Now let me check on you again." Moana backed up against the mast, the beam of wood cool against her burning back. She eyed him, memorizing the curves of his biceps as he parted her legs and plunged two fingers in her. Surprised, Moana released a soft squeak, face contorting with agonizing pleasure.

 _Horny little thing is still wet_ , Maui thought. His fingers dipped into her, twisting as more wetness developed inside of her. "I think you're ready for me."

She nodded, and Maui planted a firm kiss on her lips as he withdrew her fingers. "Gods, do you know how hot you are?" He ran a hand down her chest and cupped her butt.

Moana glared at him, embarrassed, "Just fuck me already!"

"Are you _begging_ me?" Maui gasped in mock surprise.

"No, I just--"

In one subtle motion, Maui shoved the head of his dick into her. "What'd, you, say?" Maui asked in between huffs, sliding and stilling inside of her to pin her against the mast. His face carved into itself in pleasure.

Moana's eyes shut, eyelashes sewn together. Dreamy reflections coated her brown eyes when she opened them, lips parted as she breathed, "Not. Funny."

"What's the matter, Princess?" Maui wrapped his fingers around her hips.

"Your dick, is, huge," Moana panted.

Maui grinned. "Too much for your tight little pussy? Or do you want more?"        Moana nodded, and Maui slid out of her and plunged back in slowly. The speed increased, wind shooting past them as they fucked on the ocean. Maui thrust into Moana, burying himself in her scent and her body.

"Maui, I, can't, stand..." Moana gasped.

Remaining inside of her, Maui picked her up and gently sat down on the wooden boards. Moana, limp in his lap, wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed her bare chest against his.

"You tired, baby? Or want to go again?" Maui huffed, dick engorged inside of her.

"We're here," Moana's voice tickled the inside of his ear, small and excited.

Maui turned his head to see his island for the first time since he left to journey on the ocean with Moana. Moana pulled herself off of him, coiling into herself on the wooden boards of the boat. They both stood up, peering at the shoreline. An orange, glowing figure sat on the sand.

"Oh, _shit_." Maui's fists tightened.

Panic rolled over Moana, "Who _is_ that?"

"Pele, the fire goddess."

Jealousy gripped Moana, "Why, why is she here?"

Maui sighed, turning his head away from Moana. His voice dropped, "Because we made a deal 100 years ago that she would come back to my island in 100 years."

"What do you mean, 'come back to your island?'" Moana's voice rose.

"I mean _sex_ , Moana." He hissed.

The boat slowed as the shoreline approached. 

"Stay here," Maui huffed as the fiery figure walked down the beach towards them. 

 

           


	13. Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fire goddess *sparks* conflict between Maui and Moana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where this is going after this chapter. I had a clear mental plan for everything up to this point. Comment what you want to happen!

The sun peeled its last rays off of the ocean, a silent retreat. Darkness collapsed over the skyline in hues of messy purples. Moana trudged after Maui, feet digging into the sand. The mystical fire figure approached from a few yards down the beach. Maui swerved around, eyes dark with frustration, "I told you to _stay_."

Moana watched Pele strut down the beach entrenched with shadow. Her skin glowed with hints of yellow and orange, a paint palette of fire consuming her entire body. Her black hair hung in long wisps against her face. Her dress swept across the sand as she walked barefoot, eyes lined with black paint. Moana never saw a woman with as much elegance as Pele.

Moana glanced at Maui. His eyes roamed over Pele's long legs exposed from the high-low skirt of her dress. An old sentiment strung the pair together, some foreign connection from years past, Moana figured. The elasticity between them shrunk until their bodies stood a few feet apart. Moana gulped, intimidated by the goddess.

"Big Maui," Pele chewed on her bottom lip tinged a deep red, "Where have you been?" Her long fingers twisted her hair, eyes sinking against Maui's gaze.

Maui replied with silence, a reserved expression on his face. Pele eyed Moana, smirking to herself, "Are you another of Maui's adoring fans? I can tell you first-hand how _amazing_ he is. So nice of him to take you out on his boat, hm? I remember when we used to do that," She tossed her hair over her shoulder and devoured Maui with her eyes. A shred of envy pulsed through Moana. Her gaze flickered between them, Maui expressionless.

"This is Moana," Maui motioned with his hand, "The girl who helped me get my hook back."

The word "girl" ripped at Moana's pride, her mouth falling open in dejectedness. Maui belittled her with his careless introduction. "Actually, I'm the chief of Motonui," Moana blurted, voice stronger than both of theirs.

"Oh, are you? Well, I'm Pele the fire goddess. Now, Maui, about that deal..."

"No, Pele. It's not happening." Maui grumbled.

"What? Are you having a hard time saying no to me?" Pele let out a tinkling laugh that rang like shells clattering against each other.

"No," Maui snarled this time.

"Why not?" Pele urged again, her fists tightening and skin burning a deeper red.

"Because," Maui huffed, glancing at Moana.

"Wait, wait, wait," Pele burst into laughter, "You're fucking _her_? I mean, I knew you lowered your standards since Tamatoa stole your hook, but my Gods!"

Maui's brow furrowed in rage, fists clenched tightly. Pele's words stabbed Moana, spurting tears in her eyes. Why did Maui fail to defend her, whisk away Pele's jabs? Was Maui ashamed of their twisted friend-lover relationship?

Moana sighed. She shut her eyes to contain the fury bubbling inside of her. She calculated her words, sorted them out, and released them, "OK."

Pele wiped her eyes before grinning at Moana, "Aw, you really let Maui make you feel special, didn't you? Well, let me tell you, we've had history."

"Don't." A growl rumbled from Maui's throat.

"Actually, Maui's gotten around quite a lot. Did he take you out on the boat as your first little outing?"

Moana barely nodded her head, stunned. Maui muttered to himself, hanging his head.

"Yeah, well, that's what he does. I'm guessing he wanted to 'fuck you all over the boat?' He was probably going to take you back here and fuck you in the water."

Moana's tears spilled over, rushing and racing each other down her cheeks. Shame blanketed her face. Maui's chest split in half, an ache clinging to his skin at Moana's child-like reaction. He wanted to curl her up in his lap and insist the dishonesty of Pele's comments -- but they were all true.

"He's just going to discard you, use you up and then cut you off, visit you when he wants your body. That's how he is, and that's how we've both always been. Every one hundred years, we meet up. He's fucked more girls than years you've been alive. Have fun, Moa," Pele mispronounced Moana's name before disintegrating in a cloud of smoke.

Moana turned to Maui, who stared at the sand underneath his toes. "M-Maui? Is it all true?" Moana implored.

Maui rose his head, eyes jagged with anguish, "Everything Pele said is true. If you let me defend myself, I--"

"I, I can't be mad at you," she whispered, "Since I've been seeing Tal, too. I can't hold what you did before you met me against you. It's just _sad_ that you addressed me as 'the girl,' and didn't even care to cancel your little rendezvous with Pele. It's sad that you let Pele trample all over both of us with her words. Why didn't you say anything to her? Just let me be humiliated and you stare at your feet? It's sad that you pursued mean-spirited women. It's sad that you used the same moves on girls from the past. I guess I'm not special enough for you to treat me like you've never treated anyone before." Moana turned away, walking to the boat.

Maui, both baffled and guilty by her response, followed her. He clambered onto the boat behind her, releasing the sail. The ocean collapsed against itself, channeling the pair's pain as the boat bumped against the water. Moana slumped against the edge of the boat, eyes thick with sadness. Maui sat beside her, the boat ricocheting across the uneven surface of the water. The sail heaved above them.

"Do you want me to be honest?" Maui whispered, voice low like the moon rising above them.

Moana nodded, clasping her petite hands in her lap, "Yeah. Just tell me everything."

"I've lived for thousands of years. I've roamed across the ocean, from island to island, realm to realm. I've seen everything on this earth in its purity and its lowliness. I was and still am subject to both demigod powers and mortal emotions. Did I choose this? No.

"But life is so lonely. It's a loneliness you will _never_ understand. I threw myself from woman to woman, some mortals and others goddesses; because I wanted to shed my loneliness, never feel barren ever again. In the moment, touching someone like that and being touched back felt like everything I wanted. Then the moment would pass, and I was left holding loneliness in my hands once again. I was selfish, but I wanted to feel loved. Appreciated. Like people wanted me near them.

"Then, then, when I met you, everything crumbled. Something shifted in me. When you touch me, it means more than any touch I've ever felt."

Maui shifted his gaze to the purple sky crusting over their heads. The stars plucked themselves from the darkness, and a forgotten familiarity burst between them: of companionship despite the inexplicable loneliness of night all humans and demigods suffer from. Moana both smiled and wilted from his words, confused and wounded and pleading for his touch.

Maui locked his eyes with Moana's, dark and elusive. "You," an ancient stir gripped Maui, an urge from years ago to partake in human romance and place his hand on her cheek. He conceded, fingers soft against her skin, "I never want you to feel what I felt."

Moana battled against the moment, lips inches from dissolving against Maui's. The possibility danced between them. Moana leaned into his hand, eyelashes heavy. She released herself, smashing her lips against his. Maui, stunned, moaned into her mouth.

 _Damn, Princess has moves_ , he smirked to himself as Moana snaked her tongue against his. Her hands reached up his bare chest, pulling him closer. Maui slipped his hands against her back, urging her to lay against the deck. The chief obeyed, back down against the salt-dried wood. Maui hovered over her chest, legs straddling her body.    

Moana broke away from the kiss, "We should _stop_ now, before someone sees." The pair disentangled their bodies to sit upright on the deck. Motonui rolled into view, and relief passed over Maui.

 _My new home_ , he grinned to himself as the boat approached the shoreline. 

           


	14. Contemplation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tal confronts Moana about Maui breaking courtship customs. Moana experiences a mental breakdown... or an epiphany?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has ~130 Kudos; while I am deeply grateful for your support, I haven't received any suggestions for the next events of the plot. PLEASE help me out! I'm writing for you guys!

Maui walked with Moana from his boat anchored on the far side of the beach. The darkness fluttered against their skin like shaking leaves. The moon crested the sky, longingly pouring itself against the navy glass surface of the ocean. Maui clenched his fist to contain the urge to wrap his fingers with Moana's.

Moana hummed as the pair approached the guest hut. She lingered outside the doorway, waiting for Maui to return to his temporary home. "I, I guess I'd better get going," she breathed. The moonlight struck the brown cascades of her eyes, eye lashes heavy with exhaustion and tenderness.

The breeze flitted against the roof, shaking the wooden covering. "Moana," Maui gulped, heaviness visible in his stare, "Please don't leave." He cursed himself for displaying such desperation and vulnerability in front of the young chief.

Moana puckered her lips, controlling her giddy grin, "Maui," she leaned towards him, "My parents would have you banished if they found me in your bed with you."

Maui huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. His muscles enlarged with frustration, "Fine, Princess. I'll see you later." Maui placed a quick kiss on her lips, Moana stumbling back from the force.

"B-bye," Moana whispered, cheeks aglow, as she slipped off back to her hut.

"Moana," Chief Tui grabbed her arm as she walked through the center of town, "How was your night with Maui? Did you catch anything impressive?" His warm smile comforted Moana, head swirling with post-Maui exaltation and thoughts of her next actions.

"The water was pretty calm. We threw back a few small ones, but that was about it," Moana lied, smiling at her father.

"Well, what are you doing tomorrow night?" Tui placed an arm around his daughter's shoulder, strolling with her towards her hut.

"Nothing that I know of, Papa!"

"Good! Your suitor Tal has arranged a dinner with his parents and us. Meet at sun down in our hut? Then we'll walk over to the village gathering place?" Tui grinned.

Moana stumbled along the dusty path leading to her hut. "I, um... OK!" She squeaked. Tal's persistence alarmed Moana; how long before individual dates started?

"Well, goodnight, Mo!" Tui kissed his daughter on the cheek before walking towards the village center.

"Oh, Gods, what am I going to do," Moana huffed as she slinked against the wall of her hut, "This is -- what in the _hell_?" Her eyebrows knit together as she peered through the darkness to see Tal laying against her sleeping sack.

"Hey, Chief! Excited for our evening together?" He grinned, standing up and stretching, "I didn't know when you would come back, but I couldn't help myself. I need to have you tonight." He crept across the room towards her.

"Our 'evening together' doesn't start until tomorrow, so you can go home now," Moana playfully pushed his shoulder back. The muscle tensed against her touch, and she bit her lip.

"I'm not an idiot. I know Maui probably fucked you tonight, so I wasn't going to get my hopes up. But it was worth a shot," Tal placed his hands on her hips, pressing his lips against the inside of her ear. Moana quaked against the coolness of his tongue.

"Stay out of it, creep. It wasn't exactly the _perfect_ circumstance, but..." Moana's voice trailed off.

"When things get more serious between us, you know it's only fair you stop letting him touch you."

"What do you mean, 'letting him touch you?' I don't do anything with anyone that I don't want to do. And who said that we were going to be getting 'serious?'" Moana walked over to her sleeping sack, slumping against the wall.

"Are you oblivious?" Tal's tone turned condescending.

His question jabbed her pride. "Excuse me?" She spit back.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Um, _no_ , sorry for not being able to follow your twisted logic."

"Can you really not tell that I'm into you, Moana? That I came to _your_ hut just to see you even, if it meant not being able to have you tonight? You seriously don't feel what's going on between us?" His voice jumbled in the darkness. He sat beside her on her sleeping sack.

Moana made a stifled croaking noise, confused and flattered and nervous from Tal's confession. "Tal, I can't promise you anything right now."

"Oh, really? But you can let Maui fuck you all you want, and will barely let me tap you on the shoulder without freaking out? He's not even formally courting you. Can't you see that I take this more seriously than he does?"

No words came from Moana's lips. She contemplated his conjectures, and her stomach grappled against itself because everything Tal said appeared true. "You, you're right."

"And how is that fair to me? That he doesn't have to comply with tribal rules and can take you on a date on his boat, sneaking behind everyone's backs? The more I think about it, the more I think about how _rigged_ it is. You'll probably end up with him, anyway." Tal swallowed, voice raspy with anguish. Moana never realized the extent of his feelings for her.

"I don't know what to say."

"Neither do I, except that if this keeps persisting, I'm _done_ with this. I refuse to be played by you and him. I have better ways to spend my time."

"No, Tal, I really think--"

"You know what? Maybe I should just cancel everything between us. Then you can really see if he'll pursue you formally, or if he's just using you like he used a bunch of other girls." Tal grumbled, stalking out of Moana's hut.

Tears wiggled their way down her cheeks, coating her eyelashes. Moana's fears reawakened, images of Maui fleeing Motonui or never engaging in formal courtship with her.

Her feet padded against the sand. Moana followed the internal commotion swamping her veins with anxiety to the one place she felt whole. With all of the villagers tucked away in their huts for the night, the moon glared down at her. Moana glided her hands against the currents. Her tears buried themselves in the ocean.

The glowing silhouette of a sting ray floated in the water. Its tail flashed a light turquoise, soon transforming into a limbs. The floppy underside sprouted into a belly, the eyes widening to create a face. "I've missed you," Gramma Tala resurrected from the waters in spirit form.

"Gramma," Moana whispered. She collapsed into her Gramma's fierce hug, limbs glistening the same electric blue color as her stingray form.

"You have always loved the ocean, and it will always love you. The friendship between you and Maui sprung from this ocean. Whatever the ocean wants, the ocean will have," Gramma nodded, wisdom beating dimples into her cheeks.

"I, I don't know what to do," Moana ripped at her curly locks springing in front of her eyes.

"But you _will_ know," Gramma Tala slinked back into the water, waving at her granddaughter, "I love you, and I'm so proud of you." Her figure disintegrated into the ocean.

"No, no," Moana thrashed at the ocean, which pushed her back as the radiant stingray glided off into deeper waters, "Please, Gramma!" She shrieked pushing against the currents pummeling her legs.

"Shhhhh," A deep voice cooed in her ear, large yet gentle hands swooping underneath her legs to cradle. Moana batted her water-stained eyelashes, rubbing the moisture away from her clouded vision.

"M-Maui?" Moana croaked, nuzzling her head into the warmth of his bare chest.

"I'm right here. Let's take you back to your hut," Maui rocked her as he strode up the beach.

Maui's arm motions reminded her of the swaying of the boat riding the ocean so long ago. His scent washed over her like a spit of angry seawater lulling into a tinkling mist, fierce with manhood and the ocean -- yet dissipating to comforting warmth. She avoided his eyes, embarrassed that the demigod witnessed her mental explosion.

"You don't have to tell me what happened. But I'm going to stay up with you and make sure you fall asleep," Maui caressed her cheek as he laid Moana on her sleep sack. He gingerly pulled her quilt up to her neck, her lips trembling in a pout as she bit back tears.

"I was confused," Moana stammered, eyes shut and face lax against her pillow, "About all that's happened and happening between us. And with Tal. So I went to the ocean, where I felt safe, and then Gramma--" a tear rolled down her tanned skin. Maui wiped the droplet off with his thumb.

"Shhh, shhh. You can tell me tomorrow." Maui tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"What if someone walks in, and sees us here alone?" Moana mumbled, sleep almost catching her.

"Then I'll tell them I was making sure you were OK," Maui patted her arm, "Just go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Moana half-nodded and half-slumped against herself as sleep drained over her. Maui swore a small smile clung to her lips before she released herself to the calms of her unconscious.


	15. Serious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui grapples with his feelings for Moana and does something very brave. Moana lays down the rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep the comments coming! Your feedback pushes me along. I read all of them, although I normally don't respond. Thanks for the positive comments. I've taken your suggestions and incorporated them! Enjoy! Also, sorry for the wait; I've been super busy! Also, I'm completely obsessing over Zuko and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I think Katara and Moana are incredibly similar, and I would love to know if anyone would read something about Zutara? Thanks!

Maui trudged down the beach. His shoulders hulked close to his ears in frustration. His epiphany, whether triggered by the moonlight or Moana herself, crumbled over his head like a thousand grains of sand. Maui loved Moana.

So engulfed by his intense fervor, he strode out of his hut and to the beach to pacify his mind. How could he dump such powerful words on a girl he wasn't committed to? How long before Maui submitted to her, spilling words like oil in a frying pan?

This love stalked him from yards away, then tiptoed behind him like a shadow, finally strangling him in its suffocating grasp the moment he said good night to her outside her hut. Now, viewing her slim figure collapsed against the sand, he fled to her side.

After tucking in the rare seashell he stumbled upon, the hot spring bursting forth from the cracked ground, the morning light clinging to the dying night; in her hut, Maui sighed as he stood in the doorway of the former chief's hut. The light waved to him, inviting him inside, but instead he knocked on one of the wooden beams and waited until Tui and Sina rubbed their eyes at the door before him.

"Chief Tui and Lady Sina, I have a proposal to make despite this untimely hour," Maui wrestled with his hands in front of him, dropping his head in a respectful bow.

"Maui, we are always available to talk," Sina smiled, Tui nodding, "Now, what's brought you to our doorstep tonight?"

Maui gulped, experiencing a string of anxiety, before clearing his throat, "I would like to formally court Moana." He stared at Tui and Sina, their eyes glistening with astonishment.

"Well, Maui... this is a very serious situation," Tui motioned with his hands.

"I'm aware, Chief. I've sailed the ocean with Moana before. We took care of and cared about each other then, and we can now," Maui puffed out his chest, a grin strung to his face.

Tui and Sina exchanged a cheerful glance, smiling breaking out on their faces. "Well, I think we both understand and approve. We'll talk with you later about finding a time for a formal dinner with us and Moana."

"Thank you for this opportunity," Maui, victorious once again, bowed his head before returning to his hut.

*******************************

Soft morning light sprinkled against the floorboards of Moana's hut. She rustled against the quilt, stretching her arms above her head. The disorientation with her relapse into the conscious world wore off in moments as she remembered Maui carrying her to her sleeping sack last night.

 _Shit_ , she sighed, patting her tangled hair, _Maui_. Simply thinking his name, and a weightlessness surged through her body. The realization escaped her body, untangling itself from her heartstrings and the hidden nooks of her lungs. She refused to interact with Maui on a romantic level if he didn't participate in the formal suiting procedure.

Moana's feet carried her, pattering against the warm earth, to the guest hut. Maui shucked the shells off coconuts open to drain the milk out. His eyes reached for hers across the room, grappling onto her body and summoning her. The demi god's seductive stare tempted her, but she crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey," she breathed, on the cusp of dissolving into his lap and resuming their treacherous cycle of pain and passion.

Maui's eyes struggled with an emotion other than lust, layer after layer of twisted brown, "I told your parents that I wanted to formally court you, and they agreed." He spit the words out, breathless, before staring at the soft shreds of coconut in between his fingers.

Moana stumbled against the wall in shock. "I, um..." She stammered, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I knew you'd react like that," He smiled up at her, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, that means we can only interact at meals, chores or other projects, and on scheduled dates..." Moana stared up at the ceiling as her cheeks flushed, "And I mean it this time, too. Tal is considering ending our courtship because of how unfair it is that I saw you last night. I'm taking this seriously now. We have to follow the rules."

Maui clenched his stomach performing somersaults at the idea of not touching Moana until... Gods only knew when. He mumbled something before playfully sighing, "Well, I guess you shouldn't be in here, Princess." He bit his lip and tore her apart with his eyes.

"Also, I'm having dinner with Tal and our families tonight. I'll see you around, Maui," Moana waved before rushing out of Maui's hut to avoid his glare. _That was the last time we'll be alone for a while_ , the thought caused Moana to trample through town. She wanted fairness, but also savored her personal moments with Maui. She stuffed some bread and fruit on a leaf plate before eating her breakfast with the other townspeople. _Is this what I really want?_ , she pushed her hair out of her eyes before taking a bite of her mango.

**********************************************

 _Clunk_. _Clunk_. Maui hacked at the thick tree trunk, the metal met by layers of wood. He needed to construct his hut to hold at least two people, possibly multi-story. _Well, me and Princess would share a bed, and she is pretty tiny_ , he thought to himself before laying a final blow to completely splinter the tree trunk. It collapsed to the ground, causing moisture and dirt to billow up from the ground.

Now late afternoon, Maui avoided the villagers all day by chopping lumber in the forest by the hot springs; even one glance at Tal would shred his insides with the knowledge he would steal Moana for the night. Sweat trickled down Maui's face, arms, and chest: tan skin glistening in the yellow sun reaching towards the edge of the sky. His lavalava hung past his hips, displaying the muscular V trailing down towards his manhood.

Light humming floated through the humid air, Maui running a hand through his black hair. Moana walked down the path with a woven towel, soap, and a patterned dress in her hands. His mouth hung agape at her toned legs exposed by the slit of her skirt. _Undoubtedly the hottest thing I've ever seen_ , Maui thought as he threw down his axe and waved.

Moana blushed, flicking her fingers back at him as she peaked at the large amount of skin Maui showed from his loose lavalava. Maui failed to contain his goofy grin when she placed her belongings on a rock and slipped off her clothes before submerging herself in the water. She popped up for air, her back bare and butt covered from the hot water. His conscience urged him to resume his work, but his instinct to join Moana in the water almost won.

 _Keep your cool, demi-god,_ Maui affirmed to himself as he sat down on a fallen tree. He removed the cap off of his water bottle, gulping the liquid down in throaty gasps as Moana's hands climbed over her body to suds her with soap. _Could've been my hands if it wasn't for these stupid rules_ , he grumbled to himself before picking up a saw and dissecting the tree into smaller pieces.

Moana rinsed off, wrapping her towel around her petite body. Maui rested the saw in the divot he made. Her hair clung in long wisps to her slender body, deep brown against her tan back. She slipped the patterned dress on, carrying the towel as she walked down the path. The words almost oozed out of him, uncontainable as she passed by with another light smile. _I love you_ , he silently said to her, _I love you_.


	16. Deceit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bye @Tal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loving the comments. Thank you so much! See end notes AFTER reading this chapter.

Maui's hands grazed the paper as he drew a thin line with ink and a bird feather. The tough cord running through the center of the feather almost snapped in his hulking grasp, but his fingers loosened to write the word "Bedroom." _I wonder if she'll want to paint the walls, or leave them as wood,_ Maui drew another line to complete the layout for his hut. He placed the large bedroom spacious enough for both him and Moana in the back corner, leaving a smaller guest bedroom and a common room for eating and hosting. He'd be able to start construction in a matter of days, lumber readily available from cutting down numerous trees.           

Maui admired his plan as the last trickles of sunlight sunk beneath the horizon. He tossed the idea of a shared future together in between his palms like warm fire still burning to the touch: distant yet alarmingly close. He clenched his stomach, writhing with anger, at imagining Moana in Tal's hut tonight. If only he could watch their interactions in secrecy.

 _Fuck_ , Maui slapped his giant palm over his forehead as he contemplated a less than permissible idea, _what if I_...? He shook his head. The thought remained, accelerating through his nerves as he gripped his hook in between his fingers. _It wouldn't be the_ worst _thing ever_ , Maui resolved as he transformed in to a jade-colored beetle. His stumpy legs scuttled across the floor, wings opening to reveal a glimmering blue underneath, as he flew off.

************************************

Moana combed her hair using the wooden brush crafted by her father. Her eyes glimmered brown in the lantern light of her hut, black paint lining her eyelids. Her reflection in the mirror, chipped at the corner, stared back at her in confusion. She gave the last shards of sunlight a piggyback ride, picking up swirls of it against her tan shoulders as she walked to her parents' hut.

Little stars flicked against the boundary of the sky. Moana sighed as insects buzzed by, almost as dazed as her imagining herself sitting at the dinner table with Tal and her family. Truthfully, her nervousness surpassed any sentiment she experienced before. She was comfortable with Maui. However, Tal's illusiveness ignited in her fury, lust, and interest.

"You look beautiful," both of Moana's parents embraced her before they sauntered off to Tal's parents' hut. Moana's palms grew moist, and she bit her lip out of anxiety. The quaint hut peeped out from behind a pair of coconut trees as they walked through the village.

"Hello!" Tal's mother, Kina, and father, Afu, bowed from inside. Kina's brown hair swirled into a few thin wisps down to her shoulders. Afu's green eyes smiled at Moana from the doorway.

"Welcome. Thank you so much for coming," Tal shrugged past his parents to lower his head in respect. His grin strung from the left side of his face to the right, and a wave of admiration poured over Moana. _Gods, he's handsome_ , Moana breathed as her and her family returned the bow in courtesy.

Tal's eyes clung to Moana, rifling through the multiple emotions on her face. "Come inside, please. We have lots of food prepared for you," Tal motioned for everyone to enter through the doorway. Moana moved last, avoiding his eyes.

Tal grabbed her wrist before she stepped inside, placing his lips against her ear, "You look good tonight," before brushing past her to join the parents absorbed in their conversations about harvests and weather cycles.

A deep flush coated Moana's cheeks. His fingers left an invisible imprint, a floating memory of his touch, against her skin. As everyone sat down, parents on two opposite ends of the table and Tal and Moana next to each other in the middle, Moana repeated his words in her head, _You look good tonight_.

"Thank you so much for having us t-tonight," Moana stuttered over her last word as Tal's arm brushed against hers as he sat down next to her. She faked a large grin at Kina and Afu, also glancing at her parents. His bare skin crackled against hers, sizzling and about to combust. The inches separating their bodies caused Moana to release a deep breath.

Meaningless conversation roamed back and forth between the six of them for a while before Tal suggested for food to be served, "Moana, would you like to help me serve the food?" His dark eyes bit into her.

"Yes, I would be more than happy to," Moana beamed, eager to leave the table for a bit.

Tal led her outside to where a few dishes of chicken, vegetables, soup, bread, and fruit laid under giant leaves. The conversation continued inside, still swirling around the same subjects of rain patterns and construction of new boats for wayfaring. The pair picked up two dishes each, placing them on the dining table.

Moana moved to sit down, but Tal interjected, "I think I may have left some chicken out on the spit. Should we go check?" His parents nodded, and Moana followed him outside once again.

"What are you talking about? The spit's clean," Moana threw her arms across her chest and glared at Tal, out of earshot of their parents. She leaned against the back of the hut.

"I know," he stepped towards her, dark hair casting shadows against the sides of his face.

"So, what--"

Tal drove his tongue deep into her open mouth, lips sucking onto hers. He pressed her back against the hut wall, driving his hips into her. She moaned out of surprise and satisfaction, his member bulging against her. He pulled away before wiping his mouth and traipsing back inside: not even casting a second glance at her.

 _What the hell,_ Moana grumbled to herself before resuming her seat, angered by both Tal's impulsiveness and the fact that she actually _liked_ it. She snuck around the opposite side of the table to avoid touching him. Everyone grappled for the various foods resting in front of them, soft chewing and hums echoing throughout the hut.   

"So, how is path construction going with that papaya grove?" Afu asked.

"Well, we haven't worked on it in a few days. We scouted out the landscape earlier, and maybe it would be best to resume work on it..." Moana pondered, glancing at Tal.

"I agree. Tomorrow, I think we should start making an outline and clearing trees," Tal added.

The rest of dinner proceeded without incident, everyone expressing gratitude through both words and bows. Moana locked eyes with Tal one last time before walking back to her hut.

*************************

Moana hummed to herself as she plopped down on her sleeping sack. Something bubbled in her stomach: giddiness, anticipation, hopefulness. Candles blown out, the air slid against her body -- beckoning her to tip toe to Tal's hut. She experienced that familiar string of lust, as evident as a huge pillar between her body and Tal's across the village. She only wanted to talk to him, admit how this evening surpassed her expectations. _Hm, maybe I can just go ask him when he wants to work on the papaya grove tomorrow_ , she resolved, standing up and throwing a shawl over her bare shoulders.

An orange glow seeped from behind the cloth covering his hut door. Moana eagerly skipped up the steps, removing the curtain. "Hey--" her voice clanged against the wooden flooring.

Tal sat up, eyes large with exasperation, on his sleeping sack. A young woman -- a villager Moana never interacted with -- moaned against him. Moana stared at her naked breasts as she turned, gasping at Moana standing in the doorway. Tal pushed the girl off, throwing on a pair of shorts.

"Moana, please," Tal motioned for her to wait, "Please let me explain."

Tears of embarrassment stained Moana's eyes. She shook her head before bolting to Maui's hut. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't usually post end notes, but a few things I want to acknowledge: since I'm sure a bunch of you are thinking this stuff, too.  
> 1\. It's so unfair for Moana to get upset about Tal fucking some other girl, since she oscillated between Maui and Tal for so long.  
> 2\. However, she DOES deserve to be upset with Tal because he tried to guilt her into feeling like she was being unfair talking and doing stuff with Maui. Moana immediately changed her actions based on what Tal said. Also, Moana was so candid with Tal about everything her and Maui did -- yet Tal DECEIVED her.   
> 3\. I'm kind of pissed at Moana for staying interested in Tal/walking over to his hut/going to Maui's hut immediately after Tal fucks her over. I know, it doesn't make sense for me to be mad since I write this story. For some reason, I feel like the characters developed on their own; I can't make Moana do something (like ignore her feelings for Tal) that wouldn't be characteristic of her. She's so passionate that it seems like she'd do all of these things.   
> 4\. Maui is so cute about Moana. I feel so bad for him, since he'll soon find out that Moana wanted to go talk to Tal in the middle of the night. It's sad that Moana goes to Maui's hut right after Tal betrays her. Ugh.   
> 5\. I don't like characters that are either "good" or "bad." Characters should mimic real people, and real people have flaws. This should explain why each character has both flaws and strengths.


	17. Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana and Maui hash things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! 200 Kudos? So honored! This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write so far (I also love Chapter 1). I love hearing from you guys! Keep commenting!

Maui watched her all night, both disgusted and entranced from studying her in secrecy. He saw everything. Tal leaning into her, slipping lust-driven words into her ears. How her body immediately contorted to avoid his, an emblem of her confused lust for the man. Moana's eyes, half-closed, gleaming despite the shadows plaguing her face when Tal's tongue dove into hers.

Each of her interactions with Tal constricted the muscles in Maui's chest. Maui overlooked Moana's pull to Tal, like eyes drawn across the surface of the ocean failing to spy the rip currents underneath. The frustration turned to anguish. Maui flew off to the guest hut, transforming back into his demi-god form. He lit the torches against the walls, their flames intertwining like lustful lovers. A vast loneliness threatened to collapse over him like sheets of rock, but he dismissed the sentiment with a flick of his hand.

Mortal and immortal, the two parts of him snaking against each other -- half moving in tandem and opposition. Maui lived multiple lives in his thousands of years on Earth: traversing the seas, skipping across the islands, shape-shifting. He experienced the power of an immortal, and the phantasmal pleasures of a mortal. He failed to escape the darkness all mortals lay susceptible to from simply existing, but didn't harbor deep relationships with others to combat this existential sadness. Many times he suppressed the despair buckling his legs, gulping back the demons lodged in his throat. Sometimes, he choked: floundering under the rockiness of sadness. Life as both a mortal and an immortal contained deep pain paired with high pleasure.

Besides a sense of duty as a demi-god, he ironically questioned the reason for his existence on Earth: Maui was one of the only beings on the planet receiving explicit duties from the Gods about how to devote his time. He was a creator, a protector to humans. However, this merely satiated half of this metaphysical quarrel. Others, mere mortals, strung their lives together like chains of flower wreathes -- without any duties placed upon them -- and sourced the meaning of their lives from these relationships. Now, as Maui fell to his knees from his ardor for Moana, the desire to love and reciprocally be loved surged over him.

This quest proved more treacherous than slinging his hook, defeating monsters, or raising the islands and the sun. Maui, competitive and willful by nature, _never_ collapsed from the threat of a challenge. Difficulties corrugated one's esteem, but ultimately lifted people to their highest capacities.

Maui sat on his sleep sack, back against the wall. _I will make Moana love me back_ , he insisted, studying his plan for their hut in his hands. The wooden flooring of the hut shifted, and Maui looked up.

Tears streaked Moana's face. A sheer nightgown whispered against her smooth skin. Her hair curled like twisting snakes against her neck and shoulders. "M-Maui," she croaked, stepping further towards him.

"What did he do to you?" Maui stood up, his dreamlike haze from her alluring appearance broken from the realization that Tal possibly _hurt_ her. He strode over to her, eyes pinned against her. A sob shook Moana's chest.

"I know what you did," Maui's anger erupted into soft shreds of words, "I was watching you the entire time. I had to leave after he kissed you; wait, actually, you kissed _eachother._ You, you _liked_ what he was doing to you. So don't come to my hut crying after your night with him." Maui crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.

"I," Moana sniffled, tears clinging to the end of her nose like a child, "I... you're right." She clenched her fists over her eyes, cowering.

The confirmation of Maui's suspicions caused him to stumble backwards. His hand rose to his chest, an invisible wound bleeding onto his skin.

"Tal was doing stuff with some other girl in his hut tonight," Moana breathed, eyes pleading for Maui to scoop her up in his arms.

"And how would you know that?" Maui growled.

"Because," Moana, trapped, conceded, "because I went to his hut after dinner... just to ask when he wanted to work on the papaya grove path with me tomorrow," Another tear rolled down her cheek.

A disgusted smirk crept onto Maui's lips, "So, just so I'm following you: you come to my hut to cry to me because the _other_ guy you're fucking is also fucking someone else?"

Moana shook her head, realizing her stupidity, "OK, we never did any sexual stuff."

"You wanted him, though. You went to his hut in the middle of the night. You probably wanted him to touch you even more," Maui cringed at his own revelations about Moana's intentions.

"I can't stop that I'm attracted to him. He was there for me when you weren't," Moana defended herself.

The memory swept over Maui like a lonesome sea breeze, wisps of nostalgia tackling his mind: tracing the image of her body over and over in the solitude of his hut, questioning if her thoughts reached across the ocean to him. The same longing existed between them now, from the boat, to their time apart, to their time together. Guilt wracked his body. Moana exposed herself to him, revealing her feelings like presenting a bundle of wild flowers: delicate and unfettered. Maui rejected her.

"I'm not that person anymore," Maui sulked off to his bed, resuming the seated position with his back against the wall and his arms crossed over his chest. He slipped the paper with his hut plan face down on the floor.

"Well, just so you know, I'm going to formally end the courtship with him," Moana glared back at him, eyes fiery like the torches enclosing their bodies. Her confidence bubbled up from within her. The pair battled each other with their eyes.

"Obviously you wouldn't continue to pursue someone like that," Maui sighed, "Did you honestly just come here so I could comfort you? I was your second choice tonight, and once your first choice fell through, you came running to me. How do you think that makes me feel?"

"How do you think it makes me feel when a person I'm romantically interested in is caught with someone else?" Her words faltered, another tear slinking down her face, "I told you it'd be a complicated situation from the start. You knew what you were getting in to. But, he, he made me feel ugly tonight."

The words pounded against Maui like water battling rock. Anger inflated in his chest. Tal, the mortal brat, crushed Moana's pride. The tender girl lowered herself to sit in front of the sleep sack. Her floral scent flooded over him, and a wave of lust poured through his veins instinctively.

"I should've been there for you all along," Maui said, "Maybe I could've protected you from all of this pain."

"No, no. Your mistakes aren't mine. It was so dumb." Moana shook her head, and the sheer natural beauty of the young chief struck Maui.

"What was dumb?"

"To think I could maybe choose Tal over you," A rosy glow coated her cheeks, "I'm sorry, Maui." She crept up to lay next to him on his sleep sack, avoiding touching him.

A swell of fury-driven lust rumbled through is veins,"Hm, are you really that sorry about it?" His fingers grazed her cheek. A soft moan escaped her lips, and she leaned her face into his touch. He retracted his hand, and she eyed him longingly.

"Yes. I'm really, really, _really_ sorry, Maui. You don't deserve to be treated like you're second to someone: especially to someone like Tal," Her lips pouted, and Maui's dick jumped underneath his loin cloth. Was she _trying_ to put a rock in his pants?

"Thanks," his anger disintegrated as her eyes traced over his lips, morphing into an instinct to throw her down and ravage her.

"I'll do anything to make it up to you," Moana sighed and looked at the ground, "And I just hope that you can understand where I'm coming from. I'm trying to figure things out, and so are you."

"You said you'd do anything?" Maui probed.

Moana glanced over at him with innocent eyes, before glaring once she realized the sexual inclination of his words, "Like what?"

"Stay here with me tonight," Maui leaned into her, pressing the words into her ears as his hand sought her hip. He shifted so his manhood prodded into her side. Would his proposal scare her off?

In a tender gesture, Moana draped her arms over his shoulders, "But, the rules..."

Maui pulled back to stare at her, "You have to realize that we've broken all of the rules already."

"What do you mean?"

"Us. You're the first female chief. I stole the Heart of Tefiti. The ocean talks to you. I'm a demi-god who lost his hook for ages. We found my hook, and saved your village. The rules were done with a long time ago," Maui's voice rumbled off at the end, as if chasing itself across the room.

"If I stay, what will we do?" Moana traced his collarbone with her finger.

Maui restrained against her touch, every ounce of self-control brimming within his clenched fists, "Whatever you let me do."

"I want to do... everything," Moana drew her lips an inch from Maui's.

"I'm still pissed about what happened," Maui glowered down at her, "So, if you stay, I'm going to have to give you a little bit of _punishment_."

Moana rolled her eyes at him, "You conceited--" Maui swallowed her words up by diving his tongue into her mouth, hands snaking to her small breasts. He pulled away, and Moana glared at him.

"Fuck the rules," Maui added as he positioned her on his lap.

Moana nodded. Her tears dried against her skin, eyes glinting against the torchlight, "Just this once."


	18. Different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battle in the bed and some slipped words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You probably could've guessed it, but... SMUT WARNING! I just figured out what's going to happen in the plot, so I'm warning you all now: LOTS of angst and a very sad event will take place in the following chapters. Enjoy!

Tenderness gathered between their bodies: permeating the room like the soft yellow light of the torches. Maui snuck taking whiffs of her floral-scented hair as she leaned back against his chest. To touch and be touched, to love and be loved. Maui slightly gyrated his growing manhood against her, rocking back and forth like the ocean they conquered long ago. He pondered if she sensed how he loved her, but wiped away the thought out of nervousness. What if the demi-god's eyes or hitched breaths signaled his new-found ardor?

"Lay down," Maui pressed his lips to Moana's ear, shifting her lithe body off of his lap. The chief, eyes entrenched in a mystical light brown, obeyed. Her back sank into the feathery sleep sack. Maui lifted his body up, standing before her.

The demi-god often assumed this position during his myriad sexual encounters: women of all origins splayed in front of him. However, he never experienced this heavy lightness, a slave and a master of the conundrum of deadly love: so painful, yet so euphoric. His years alone stacked against themselves like sand, waiting for this moment when Moana collapsed the sandcastle of his solitude. Maybe, he wondered, he lifted the sun and painted the stars for the sole reason to experience this moment with her.

The pair surveyed eachother. A burst of anticipation snaked down Moana's stomach to the place wetting between her legs. _What did he mean by punishment?_ , she internally debated the question as Maui towered over her. His hair cascaded in furious curls against his face.

"Is it OK if I order you around?" Maui leaned over her, hands positioned on either side of her body. His voice was dark like shadows cast over his face,

"I said I'd do _anything_ ," Moana smirked as she imagined Maui in his "I'm so macho because I'm a demi-god" mood giving her directions.

"Good," Maui's stare gnawed against the fabric taught against her nipples.

Moana squirmed, "Just don't _hurt_ me."

"You know I'd never want to hurt you," His fingers rested against her cheek, "And I'm not going to tonight. But I do want to execute some pay back..."

"OK, Big Maui," Moana gawked. Why did Maui's testosterone levels spike, prompting him to showcase his masculinity?

"Take off your nightgown," Maui glared at her. Her delicate fingers lifted the hem of her dress up over her head. Maui snatched the garment out of her hands eagerly. Moana stared evenly back as Maui's eyes moved down her tan skin. Her small breasts sat perky on her chest, her hardened nipples indicating her arousal.

Despite his collected exterior, Maui sensed how his feelings developed since their last tryst. Something else collapsed between their bodies, burying itself in his eyes as he admired the wild specimen he captured from the other man tonight.

"I missed your body," Maui attempted to memorize the moment like a chant he could summon in his mind whenever he pleased: her mouth agape, cheeks flared red, face contorting in pleasure as his hands slid down her chest. He reveled in the fact that _he_ elicited this physical response from her: and not Tal.

"Open up your legs," Maui whispered. Moana bit her lip, knees falling to the sides. Even in the eerie glow of the torchlights, Maui spotted the moisture clinging in between her legs, "Why are you wet, Moana?"

"Because of _you_ ," She licked her plump lips hungrily.

"And _not_ because of Tal," Maui drew his fingers down her inner thigh.

Moana nodded once as she glared up at him, "So is _that_ what all this macho stuff is about? Because of Tal?" She hated to admit that she enjoyed being dominated -- but she would never disclose this to the arrogant demi-god.

"I told you I would be ordering you around," Maui smirked, her little challenges dizzying him, "He can never make you feel how I make you feel."

She sighed. In truth, Maui's ministrations tugged at a place deep within her unexplored until their romantic escapades: like fire spreading across her skin while her insides steadied like the cool, unchanging moon. His touch poured over her like rain, but evaporated instantly. Only skin gliding against skin, amounting into little words and gestures evoking glittery stars when she closed her eyes to darkness. She scowled, unwillingly to assume the submissive position tonight. Moana desired Maui too much to allow him full control, "So what?"

"I'm going to make you feel like you make me feel," Maui opened her legs like the delicate pages of an ancient book. These emotions sprouted too quickly, at an unsteady rate, accelerating towards euphoria or destruction.

"What does that mean?" Moana cocked her head to the side, the words spurting from her lips like fountains in a dream.

"You make me feel like there's a reason for all that's happening, and everything that's happened before," Maui smiled, "Now, do you want these in you?" He held two of his fingers in front of her face.

Moana rolled her eyes before responding with a slight nod. She refused to display her excitement, but ultimately failed to hide a soft smile: only feeding Maui's massive ego. His words indicated a deeper, emotional meaning. Moana tossed this back and forth in her mind before he slipped his fingers into her slit.

"Oh, Maui," Moana gripped the fabric of her sleeping sack as her breasts bobbled with Maui's thrusts. _Damn him_ , Moana thought, _I wanted to be the one taking control_.

"What's wrong? Don't want to admit that you're aching for me?" Maui's dark eyes traced over her toned stomach.

"I'm, not, a-aching, for, you," Moana panted through gritted teeth. Seeing her writhe on his sleeping sack sent pulses of passion into his manhood. He wanted her to say his name, repeat it until it covered him and collapsed their bodies together.

Moana threw a jaded look at Maui. He smirked back. _So cute how she wants to pretend like she isn't enjoying this_ , Maui withdrew his fingers. Her arousal clung between them in sloppy threads.

"Hm, look what I did to you," Maui sucked up her sweetness with his lips: Moana's only response a soft whimper.

 _He's trying to make me_ beg _him to touch me_ , Moana closed her legs and sat up. Her hair dangled in front of her face, covering her burning eyes. Frustration welled in her stomach, her cavity aching to be filled with him once again. She refused to plead for his return. Moana, a devilish smile pursed on her lips, sprinted to the other side of the hut.

"What are you doing? Did I tell you to move?" Maui frowned, stalking towards her.

"What are _you_ doing? Are you _following_ me?" Moana feigned shock.

 _Fuck, she has me pinned. I should've seen this coming_ , Maui huffed to himself. His feet sunk forwards, grinding against the wooden floor. He mentally banished his pride for the moment: his focus on the murmur of the girl who stumbled onto his island so long ago.

Moana slunk against the far corner of the guest hut, cowering as Maui's massive figure loomed over her. His arms acted as barricades, hips plunging into hers to pin her against the wall.

"Enough playing around," Maui growled. One hand tipped her chin up so her bashful eyes met his. Her face hovered below his, cheeks rounded by shadows.

Moana initiated the kiss. Her lips followed the flow of her gaze from his neck up to their intended target before the deceptive chief wove her lips with his. Maui stumbled from the spontaneity of her movement, grinding his hips into her petite figure.

"You see what you do to me, right? How you get me all bound up so easily?" Maui's voice hummed in her ear as he hoisted her up onto her hips, carrying her back to his sleep sack.    Another innocent blush powdered her cheeks, eyelashes long in the dying torchlights.

"And you don't think you have the same effect on me? I'm already out of words," Her small body bounced against the cushion, breasts bobbling against eachother.

"I can't wait anymore," Maui whisked his loin cloth off to showcase his proud member. Moana devoured the spectacle, mouth watering slightly at the bulge of the head protruding from the long shaft.

"Let me... put it in my mouth," Moana turned her head to avoid his eyes. She snuck down to the foot of the sleeping sack, kneeling before the speechless demi-god.

"A-are you sure?" Maui muttered, a hand whisking his unruly hair back. Moana's words made his entire lower body clench, blood pumping with intensity into his member. One of her tentative hands gripped his length, the other pressed against his upper thigh for stability. She wetted her lips with the flick of her tongue before plopping her small mouth only a tad past the head. Her pink tongue darted out to lick all over, explorative against his thick skin.

"M-Moana," Maui shut his eyes, rocking his hips slightly into her touch. He locked eyes with her, their mutual stare dragging him to the precipice before a momentous climax.

Maui pulled himself out from her, "I'm sorry, Moana. I just, I can't." He shook his head before puffing air out of his inflated cheeks. Maui feared their lustful actions may fetter his amorous emotions. He refused to utilize her body as a vehicle for their own consensual pleasure, not when he recently received permission to court Moana.

Shame sunk over Moana. She questioned her actions, most likely displeasing the demigod from lack of experience. "What did I do wrong?" She sulked back against the sleep sack.

Maui laid beside her, pulling the back of her body into him, "No, no. You didn't do anything wrong. That was the problem: you did everything right. You could literally sit there and stare at me and you'd still work me up. I, I don't want to just go through this very serious sex stuff with you. I, I feel like I owe you more than that."

Moana turned to face him, "You're confusing me. You want me to stay the night, and you want to do all that stuff with me. And now you don't?" Little strands of tears clung to her eyes. The sight sent a strike of guilt through the demi-god.

"My Gods, Moana. I didn't want to have to say this, but I've... I've kind of been getting feelings for you. I didn't realize until we started to do things tonight. Something's, something's changed," Maui flopped over to his back.

A childish grin clung to Moana's lips. _Did Maui just admit that he_ likes _me?_ , her teeth flashed white even in the growing darkness. "OK," Moana breathed, head clouded with giddiness the young woman failed to experience before.

"What are you so smiley about?" Maui smirked back, knowing his words excited this reaction in her.

"Nothing. I'm just, you make me happy: but I should probably go get some sleep," Moana pecked his cheek before running back to her hut.

           


	19. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui realizes what he has to do to become immortal.

The light of the moon etched a path in the unfamiliar terrain. The jungle surrounded Maui, masking him from the deceitful moon. The night air juggled itself in thin wisps around his body. The peak of Motonui overlooked the sea, an hour or two trek from the guest hut. His hook glowed a light blue against the black stripes of trees petering out to reveal the footpath up a grassy slope to the peak.

The ocean splayed before Maui like a mouth swallowed up with blue. The stars strung themselves in garlands across the sky: the exact way he positioned them centuries ago. The moon glanced at him, blinking in astonishment: its white warmth passing in trails over his tattooed arms. He smiled, vowing to make Moana a necklace from the stars if the chance arose.

Tonight, he affirmed to communicate with the Gods: to plead with them to make him human. Fate tugged at the strings of his life, the realization crashing over him that Moana _would_ be his. He would keep the secret of his new-found mortality until the moment reared its head: astonishing the quaint village and its beautiful chief. Hopeful of a response, Maui positioned his hook in the ground: kneeling before the object.

"Dear Gods, I am here to ask you tonight to grant me mortality," Maui bowed his head. The sky opened up in an eerie purple glow, the jumbled voices of the Gods buzzing inside. Maui smiled to himself, victorious.

"That is _quite_ the request, Maui: especially after you went powerless without your hook for years," Rangi, supreme creator god and god of the sky, sighed from above.

"Is it because you love the mortal, the one who can talk to the ocean?" Po, creator goddess inquired, voice soft.

"Yes. I wish to be turned back to a mortal so I can be with her," Maui huffed, the implications of his words greater than expected.

"Yes..." Rangi's voice trailed off before resuming its hard tone, "Only after you complete one final quest."

"How, how long will this quest be? And what will it entail?" Maui peered up at the wispy purple orb in the sky.

"A few months, a few years, a few decades, I don't know," Rangi replied, "You must defeat Tamatoa finally, and return all of the items he hoards in the Realm of Monsters."

A few _decades_? A panic shook through Maui, "How am I supposed to know what belongs to people? What if they're dead, or I can't find them?"

"Oh, but you'll be able to find them. Tamatoa keeps a list of where each item is from, and their locations," Po soothed.

"But how will I defeat Tamatoa?" An intense anxiety gripped Maui.

"All you need to do is get him out of his shell."

"What will happen to him, then?" Maui asked.

"His shell is what gives him power. Without it, he's just another hermit crab from the bottom of the ocean. Release him back to the sea once you've taken his shell away."

"Ok," Maui sighed, "And when should I start this journey? And can I take people with me?"

"Start as soon as possible. And no: you must go alone."

"Thank you, Gods. I will go as soon as I can," Maui bowed his head before the purple cloud evaporated. He remained on the ground as the realization prickled against his skin: months without Moana. He slammed his fist into the dirt, yelping at both the pain and the prospect.

The night sky appeared as a cage to the demi-god, knowing the conditions of the Gods to turn him mortal again encased him in a massive chamber. Any mark of Maui's immortal powers disgusted him: the moon's scowl, hiccups of stars longing to wash away with the break of day. Why couldn't he have turned back into a mortal earlier, abandoning his duties and pursuing the girl taking up permanent residence in his mind?

The idea of loneliness seeping into his life intimidated Maui: traversing the seas alone, forming surface-level relationships with random islanders, and floating around like a bundle of kelp. No anchors tethered him: an unavoidable repetition of his earlier years as a powerful demi-god.

Questions bombarded Maui's mind as he sulked back to the guest hut. What if the he failed to complete the quest? What would become of his relationship with Moana? What if Moana fell in love with someone else, or _married_ them? What if Motonui judged him, thinking he abandoned them? What if Moana didn't care about him as much as he did her?

 _No_ , Maui resolved, sinking against his sleep sack, _I'm going to tell Moana and her parents everything_.

************************

Moana stared at the faint lines visible on the ceiling of her hut: her vision still blurry after Maui admitted his deeper feelings. Reimagining the moment caused her toes to tingle, her hand clamping over her mouth to stifle a giddy shriek. _Maui_ likes _me_ , Moana twisted on to her side, nuzzling into her pillow. The exaltation she experienced from the demi-god momentarily buried her resentment over Tal.

Moana sighed to herself, _I have to face Tal tomorrow after what happened_. Anxiety sprang into her throat, gripping heated hands against her windpipes. Rejection proved as agonizing as a heated spear sinking through flesh. The young woman felt insufficient, as if Tal resented a piece of her and returned her back to herself.

The images of Maui strung through her mind once more: his strong hands roaming her body like scoping unfamiliar land, his voice repeating her name, the depth of his brown eyes. The sentiments of both men mangled together, forcing her into an exhausted fit of sleep.

Dawn drowned her cheeks in pink light, a hand gripping her shoulder. She peered up to stare right into Maui's eyes, a concerned expression knotting his tan face into shreds.

"Maui! You shouldn't be in here," Moana shoved his hand playfully before lacing her fingers with his. Maui removed his hand entirely, standing up.

"Moana, I have to leave," the words plummeted out of his mouth like stones tumbling off of the peak of Motonui. Maui glared at the far wall as her mouth opened, then shut.

"What?" Moana sprang up, shoving his arm to reel back his attention.

"I talked to the Gods again. I asked them to make me mortal _immediately_ , because I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to give everything to you, let myself not think about the other half of me. They said they would... only if I defeated Tamatoa and returned all of the items he stole from people," Maui's eyes bore no trace of his usual vigor.

"How, how long?" Tears blossomed from Moana's eyes, leaking onto her cheeks.  

"A few months to a few decades..." Maui placed both of his hands to her face.

Tears pelted her night gown, a soft sob leaking from her lips. Maui sat down on her sleeping sack, sweeping her up in his lap. He cradled her as he kissed her head, "I'm going to leave after I talk to your parents. I'm going to tell them everything, about how I asked to be mortal last night, and the only way I can is to go on this quest. I'm going to tell them that I take our relationship very seriously..."

"Take me with you," Moana pleaded, burying her face in his chest.

Her cold tears sunk into his skin, "No. I have to go alone."

Moana peered up at him through misty eyes, "What's going to happen... with us?"

"Everything will work out how it's supposed to work out. If I don't come back for a long time... you should find someone else." Maui tightened his grip against her.

Another sob wracked her body, " _No_. Maui, I don't think I can find someone who makes me feel the way you do."

Maui sighed, shoving his hair out of his face, "You _have_ to. You deserve happiness. Don't wait for me."

"So, you just want to give me away to someone else?"

"Moana, you shouldn't wait for me when someone else can make you happy," Maui cringed at his words, "I, I can't be selfish and keep you for myself when I don't know how long this will take."

"What if you... never come back?" Moana whispered.

"Then there's nothing more to say. Fate didn't want us together, I guess."

"I don't want to find someone else. I want you."

"Don't break off your courtship with Tal... maybe he can make you happy," the demi-god gritted his teeth.

" _No_. I have more self respect than to let myself fall for him."

"Well, don't cut it off, but just go through the motions of courtship. In case I don't come back."

Their breaths filled the room as the sun cracked open the sky: the last time the pair would share the same space for Gods knew how long. Light crackled in, longing to rustle the confused lovers. Maui shielded Moana from the yellow shards creeping towards them, wishing to lock the moment around them like a shield. The light drenched the hut: an alarm urging Maui to start his mission.

Maui held Moana's limp hand as he stood up, "Let's go see your parents. I need to tell them everything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. This chapter poured out of me. I finally have a definite plan of where this is going. Let me know what you think.


	20. Love?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui loves Moana, and Moana loves...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See end notes when you're done with this chapter

The sun scratched against the pair's backs, pushing them to Moana's parents hut. The humid air coiled against their bare skin. Maui would miss the mundane aspects of village life: the shared meals, waving to villagers, retiring to the quaint guest hut at night. Maui and Moana eyed each other before stepping through the thresh hold.

"Maui! And Mo! What brings you two to us so early?" Tui scratched his head as he and Sina shared cups of coconut water.

"Chief Tui, Sina," Maui bowed, kneeling to their eye level as they sprawled out on the floor of their hut. Moana shuffled behind him, hiding her puffy eyes from her parents.

"There is no easy way to say this. And I'm not sure how you will both take it," Maui clasped his hands together as their faces reflected their concern, "But I have to leave as soon as possible."

"Maui, what brought this on?" Sina reached her calloused hands to pat the tops of Maui's.

Maui glanced over his shoulder, lips rippling with a somber smile, "I have decided that I want to become mortal again, and the Gods said the only way to do this is to defeat Tamatoa and return all of the belongings he stole to his original owners."

"But, why the urgency? Why do you want to be a mortal so badly?" Tui scratched at the stubble lining his face.

Moana shifted against the front wall of the hut, staring at her toes peaking from underneath the skirt of her dress. Her eyes budded with fresh tears as her parents glanced at her and back at Maui.

"I don't want Moana to age another day without me aging by her side. I can't fathom having to live forever and watch her as she withers on to the end," Maui's voice dropped to the floor of the hut, "Because I am in love with your daughter."

Moana's head snapped up, "You _what_?" Her eyes ballooned to two light brown orbs, mouth jutting into a straight line. A slight blush coated her cheeks, and her parents stared at her and back at Maui again: mouths agape, eyes mirroring the size of the full moon.

"It took me a little while to realize it, but yeah. I'm in love with you. And I wanted make it clear that I am committed to what we have," Maui huffed, ignoring any strands of embarrassment from his awkwardly-received confession.

"How, how can you love her if you haven't scheduled a dinner with us yet?" Sina implored, voice soft and cautious.

"Because I've spent so much time with her outside of courtship. I can't go into courtship with my immortality hanging over me. I need to get rid of it before this goes any further," Maui shoved a hand into his untamed hair.

"An act of commitment," Tui nodded, a slight smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

"Yes. I know that our love isn't conventional. I mean, I'm a demi-god and she's the first female chief of Motonui who can also talk to the ocean. And we spent so long on that boat together, and I only started to think of her as more than a friend once I moved here," Maui's eyes strung with Moana's as he turned to gaze at her over his shoulder. Her expression remained unchanged since he initially said those three powerful words.

"But I can't stop what I'm feeling. I've lived for so long, and I have never met anyone like Moana. I've never felt this way about anyone. I'm willing to go to the ends of the ocean just to get a chance to be with her. And if you both don't accept, or are unsure of what to do, I understand. I should be going, anyway--"

"Maui," Sina shook her head, "The decision for you to be engaged or to marry Moana is _her_ decision entirely. We're just guides for her. She's the only one who can guarantee your future."

The demigod turned to her once more, "You don't have to decide this now. I can't just dump it on you and expect you to feel the same. And same to you, Chief Tui and Sina. I don't expect you to give me permission to marry Moana. She didn't even know I wanted her like that until I said it just now. Thank you for your hospitality. Hopefully I will see you all again soon." Maui bowed once more before trudging out of the hut.

The walls constricted the air, the room plunging against Moana to compensate for the demigod's absence. "I can't believe that just happened," Moana sunk against the wall, fingers gripping her dark brown hair.

"Well, do you feel the same way?" Sina eyed her from the eating mat she hunched over.

"I, I don't know."

"And what about Tal?" Tui gulped down a few sips of coconut milk, toying with his necklace.

"Since Maui was honest, I'm going to be, too," Moana huffed, "Everyone's been breaking the courtship rules: me, Maui, and Tal, too. They're antiquated customs of our village, but I'm the chief now. I don't want Tal to court me anymore because I saw him with another girl."

Tui and Sina exchanged concerned glances. "What?"

"People can't be forced into these little pockets. You can't orchestrate romance by these rigid courtship rules. It just... doesn't work. I'm sorry," Moana held her face in her hands. The darkness behind her eyes clouded with sparks of blue and red as she pressed her eyelids into her palms.

"Moana," Tui wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulder, "Your mother and I _eloped_."

Her mouth felt like an arid cavern, "You're joking."

"No, no. It's true. And no one cared, because no one followed the courtship rules then," Sina laughed, "It didn't even stop your father from becoming chief."

"Then _why_ do we have these rules if no one enforces them?" Moana pouted.

"Traditions," Tui sighed, "I knew I should've gotten rid of it a long time ago."

"Well, you're chief now," Sina motioned to her daughter, "And you just realized that you can find love without courting someone: just as we did. You can decide to keep it or let it go."

"This is going to sound crazy, but I wish I had broken the rules earlier," the words tasted like water from foreign island in her mouth, "I'll announce that it's no longer necessary to engage in formal courtship at the upcoming Fire and Snake festival. I should go say good bye to Maui before he leaves." Moana kissed each of her parents on the cheeks before sprinting to the beach.

 _Am I in love with Maui?,_ the thought raveled and raveled into a rigid knot tumbling around in her mind. Pink raised the horizon up, shelves of blue coating the sky: there, jutting towards the edge of the line of the morning, sailed Maui's boat.

A gasp shuddered through her. The demi-god abandoned her once again, without a proper good bye or a chance for Moana to repeat those same three words back to him or understand if she was or wasn't in love with him.

Moana clamped her hands over her eyes in an attempt to shove the tears back into their source. Her feet stumbled along the familiar track, up the sand, through the cluster of huts, to the outskirts of the village. The guest hut appeared the same as before, except for the absence of Maui's hook against the far wall. She collapsed on his sleeping sack, burying her nose in his scent of saltwater, mint, and wood. Something crinkled underneath her back. She sniffled before reading the piece of paper in her hands:

_Dear Moana,_

_I had to leave quickly before I grounded myself to this island and never left at all. Being with you, even in this ambiguous place we're in right now, is still everything to me. I don't know if you feel the same way. My only regret is not taking you up on that offer to live here on the day you saved your people. I'm going to fix this, make sure our fates combine. On the back of this page is the floor plan for my hut. I designed it for the both of us, in the off chance that you want me the same way that I want you. If you don't feel the same way, just burn this paper and forget about me. I'm still in love with you, and probably will be for a long time._

_Yours,_ _Maui_

Tears dripped on the page, seeping through to the opposite side of the paper. Moana flipped it over. She grinned at the drawing of a one-story hut with four rooms: their shared bedroom, a room for a water basin, a common room, and a guest room. He even included a small changing area and closet for her.

Ironically, in his absence, the realization collapsed over her. As if falling from the sun now dripping yellow across the ocean, Moana splashed into the sentiment. His imagined words, his memorized touch, tessellated across her body like water: completely submerging her. Before, she was strung between the two posts of not in love and in love: suspended in the transition. Now, the fall was over. Moana was in love with Maui.

That slip of paper with the blueprint of their shared life together acted as the final thrust of gravity. All of the trivial flirtations and fantasizing, especially the interactions with Tal, disintegrated from her plummet back to Earth. The only cushioning this descent was the ocean: her own source of power.

 _I will wait for him_ , Moana gritted her teeth, stomping out towards the pulsating sun, drenched in the fury at both her self-induced mistakes and fate,  _I will build this hut and our life together before he comes back--_ if _he comes back. I will wait for as long as it takes_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reactions? As you can tell, this story is on its way to ending. I'm not trying to draw it out or cut it short, but it just felt like there needed to be some sort of major event like this to end things off... or keep it going for longer ;) I STILL have a plan in my head of what's going to happen. Also, WHAT SHOULD I WRITE NEXT? I'm obsessing over Avatar: The Last Airbender (specifically Katara and Zuko). I might want to write something about that, or try out alternate universe setting for Maui/Moana or Avatar. Let me know what you think!


	21. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui goes the Realm of Monsters while Moana prepares for the Fire and Snake Festival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get your popcorn out... because these last few chapters are gonna be CHAOTIC. I have a definite mental plan of what the rest of the story will be. Thank you all for the positive feedback. I'm not sure if there will be a sequel to this work or not, but I've decided that my next fic will be... modern Zutara! I love to hear from you guys, so comment below!

Moana stacked her plate with biscuits, fish, chicken, salad, and fruit. _Stress eating at its finest_ , she pushed the waves of her hair from her eyes. As the anxious chief shoveled fistfuls

Swallowing her food, Moana turned her head. Her eyes wilted at Tal standing over her, "Oh. It's you."

"Yeah. Listen, we need to talk," Tal shifted, a hand rustling his dark brown hair.

"Well, I'm eating now," Moana returned to chewing on fig seeds.

"After you're done eating," Tal slipped into the chair beside her, "Or now, even. Everyone's already off doing work for the day."

Moana surveyed the area. A few women stored the remnants of the morning's meal into baskets or cool leaves, but Tal and Moana were the only people sitting at the long village dining table.            

"Then say what you wanted to say," Moana glared at her food, polishing off the biscuits. Purple stains coated the sides of her mouth, crumbs stuck on her lips.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that," Tal leaned in, hand clutching the back of Moana's chair, "I was just frustrated because I couldn't have you the way I wanted. I needed something carnal, some release. But I'm willing to work past this if you are."

A slim attraction still existed between them, but the majority of the sentiment deflated the previous night. Tal mimicked an arid desert void of the vivacity Moana craved: unlike the lush jungles of Maui. Birds shrieking, predators lurking, trees dancing to appease the sun: Maui offered a unique habitat for Moana's love to develop.

"You humiliated me. That will never happen again, because I'm getting rid of the formal courtship system here," Moana chewed on shreds of coconut before glaring into his dark eyes.

"It doesn't have to be like that. You know there's something between us. I was here for you when he wasn't..." Tal scooted his chair closer to Moana.

"You manipulated me," Moana pushed her empty plate away from her, "You made me feel like I was scum for breaking courtship rules with Maui, and that I was being unfair to you: but really you were breaking them the entire time."

"You wouldn't let me touch you in the ways that you let him touch you," Tal motioned with his hands, voice low in Moana's ear.

"Because that's what's important in trying to find someone to marry: who lets you fuck them after the first date or not," Moana stood up and walked off towards the village center: leaving Tal fuming and speechless in his seat.

A few villagers hosted a meeting for the upcoming Fire and Snake Festival. Moana checked up on their planning, "Hey, everyone! What did I miss?"

"We decided that you would play the part of the snake in the festival dance!" A young girl nodded her head, others beaming at the surprised chief.

"Wow, I mean... does anyone else want to? I'd love to, but I don't want to steal anyone's place," Moana clasped her hands in front of her and bowed her head.

"We want you to, Moana!" A woman smiled up at her from the circle of young people around the perimeter of the village meeting hut, "But now we need a man to play the part of the fire!"       

Murmurs filled the room, and a hand shot up from the back of the crowded hut, "I'll do it," the familiar voice rumbled over Moana and her mouth gaped as Tal strode past the villagers.

"Great! You two can practice the dance for the festival! Moana knows it _all_ , so she can teach you Tal," Another young woman clapped her hands as cheers erupted around them.

"Let's go practice that dance, Chief," Tal smirked before walking out of the hut.

***************************

Motonui drowned in the light blue of the ocean as Maui's boat receded with the deep-sea currents. His boat plunged towards the Realm of Monsters. The sun glinted from its perch in the sky, causing beads of sweat to develop over Maui's brows. His hair waved in the wind, ropes taut in his hands.

The fear of isolation crept onto the boat, jumping from out of the ocean. Moana's image chiseled into his mind like a hammer into stone, dispelling the anxiety of his fate grounding itself into solitude.

The demigod was in love. Nothing -- not the loneliness of the ocean, the monumental quest, Moana's unreciprocated feelings, or the threat of other suitors -- could knock down the mountainous glory Maui experienced merely imagining the young woman.

A gargantuan loneliness settled over the ocean water as the sun retired to dormancy for the night: coating the dark ripples, the stars drizzling into myriad patterns, and the sail whipping in the wind. The moon arched across the sky, drawing Maui towards it in quiet tugs. The curve of the stars above reminded the demigod of Moana's soft smile.

Days piled up like washed up seaweed. The Realm of Monsters stood on the other side of the ocean. Maui ate, wayfared, and slept. An unsteadiness urged him to move forward as the distance shortened between his boat and the testing grounds of his fate.

After days of grazing along the ocean's surface, the tip of the rock precipice of the Realm of Monsters resurrected from the horizon. A quiet memory hummed in his mind: the determined girl climbing sharp rock to contend with him in the hell of monstrosities lurking beneath the ocean floor. The sentiment rolled and rolled until Maui was blinded by Moana's face.

He anchored his boat along the rocky shore line, heaving his body up the steep precipice. Landing both palms flat on the top, Maui hoisted himself up over the ledge. The ocean circled him. Centuries ago, an evil force pushed the entrance to the Realm of Monsters out of the benevolent blue waves, juts of rock from the water. Ironically, the darkest shadows walked in human faces and actions: not in the infamous depths of the dastardly creatures below. Casting out evil in any form proved a worthy fight for the demigod. A slight fear tapered his usual confident demeanor, but the demigod realized he encountered more treacherous battles elsewhere: with his emotions and the expectations as both a God and a human.

Sliding open the doors to the Realm of Monsters, Maui inhaled the fresh ocean air. _I'm going to do this for all the times I wanted to feel the way I do now and I just couldn't. For all the time spent alone, for all the time spent with Moana, for a chance at figuring out my fate._ The darkness swallowed the demigod's body as he jumped into the possible final resting place of his immortality.

***********************************

The beach was deserted except for the sunset scraping the ocean in a glassy pink, Moana leaning with her hands on her hips as Tal grinned at her. "You ready to teach me? You've been putting it off for a few days, and the dance is coming up. We're running out of time," Tal's dark eyes darted from Moana's eyes to her lilac-colored dress.

"Yes, Tal. I'm ready to teach you," Moana sighed. She motioned for him to sit with her on the sand, "The Fire and Snake Festival honors the fire goddess, Pele. Our dance is narrating the story between Pele manipulating fire to defeat the snake. You're going to be the fire that Pele is manipulating, and I'm the snake."

"What's the story behind it though?" Tal dug his fingers into the sand before glancing back at Moana.

"The snake is cunning, beautiful, and evil. She rules the jungle. She wraps herself in the trees. However, fire can burn through almost anything. It's lethal, spreads easily, and is captivating to watch. The fire and the snake are similar, but the fire wins as the king of the jungle by burning the jungle and the snake. That is the legend as to why fire burns down trees," Moana's eyes flashed with the knowledge of years of village fables told to her before bedtime.

"OK. I'm ready to go, Chief," Tal stood up and stretched his arms over his head.

Moana brushed the sand off of her legs, "It's a very... _intimate_ dance. The fire is a man and the snake is a woman, and they're in love. Neither can win as the ruler of the jungle. Pele manipulates fire and they eventually fall in love with each other. It's like... a battle between lovers, but power wins," Her eyes dropped to the sand.

A dissonance lingered in each of Moana's words, like her voice communicated with the wrong person. Her thoughts traced over Maui. What if they both battled for this love destined to rot with the absence of the other? What if they struggled against fate for the impossible shared life between an immortal and a mortal? What if they competed against each other, against themselves, leading to the finale of their unconventional love story.

"The dance is set in four main parts. The first part is the love between the snake and the fire. The second part is the fire attacking the snake, and the snake's terror. The third part is the fire and the snake fighting each other. The last part is the defeat of the snake," Moana brushed the long strands of hair out of her eyes.

Tal held a thumbs up before breaking the distance between their bodies. He placed his fingers against Moana's hips, causing Moana to twist her head in soft anger. _Control yourself. He just wants to get a reaction out of you,_ Moana sucked her lips in. His eyes prodded into her in anticipation, soon turning to confusion and then annoyance at Moana's stoicism. Tal dropped his hands in embarrassment, avoiding the chief's stare void of any emotion. Moana grinned to herself, "Let's start."

 


	22. Snakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana's a snake. Tal's a snake. Maui's a snake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all heated up your microwave popcorn because this chapter is just... a huge MESS. Leave comments! I want to know your reactions!

"We start by laying down. We're very close, but we never touch since you would burn me. Throughout the dance, we'll have more and more touches as you start to hurt me. At first, you really have to act like we're in love," Moana motioned for Tal to sit against the sand, "I'm coiled up on the ground, and you start by hovering over me." Moana twisted her lithe body, legs piling against eachother and turning over her hip, arms splayed wide like bird's wings. Tal planked over her, staring down at her.

Forever ago, the proximity of their bodies had looped like ribbons in her stomach. Now, her eyes ground like stone into his: cold, unseeing, and without motion or sentiment. "Now, when the music starts, you break. For now, since we don't have music, just pretend. You hold your hands out like this, urging me to stand up. Then I follow you, then slither away," Moana lunged in demonstration, arms in a slanted line from back to front.

Tal nodded his head, dark eyes shifting across her skin, "Got it, chief."

"Just do what I do, feel the rhythm against your feet when you're on the sand to help you count the beats. We'll go through each of the four sections of your part so you learn it, then we'll add in my parts," Moana sidestepped, fluid-like movements pulsing through her arms. Tal, naturally rhythmic, followed with ease. The pair moved in tandem, and for the first time since the betrayal, Moana didn't fear his presence. The beat manipulated their bodies in different, yet equal, fluctuations. The sun dipped beneath the water, and night brushed against them.

"Well, that should be enough for tonight. Good work. We'll pick it up tomorrow," Moana turned away from Tal.

"Moana, wait," Tal's fingers grazed her arm, "Thanks for giving me another chance." His tone indicated his honesty, but Moana flicked his touch away with her fingers. She glared back at him, his face chiseled in seriousness.

"OK," the chief responded before walking back to her hut.

*****************************************

The night stretched like a long woven rug over Motonui. The restless chief attempted to tuck the images of the demigod away, desperate to place the covers and blow out the torches on the fantasies winding her mind into a lustful abyss. Her mind passed over the vignettes of their intimate moments together: his carved abs, his calloused fingers parting her legs, his engorged member hardening from the slips of her hand against the smooth skin.

Moana allowed the breeze to sweep past the door curtain, skipping across her bare body. The moonlight poured into her hut in a thin shard snaking up her leg. Her fingers slipped to the tender space in between her legs, prodding her wetness. "Maui," she cooed, an ode to her loneliness, as her ragged breaths filled the otherwise empty hut.

Her hand sped up its motions in an effort to dissolve the loneliness attached to her body, but the sentiment multiplied. Her body recognized the touch and dredged up images of her intimacy shared with Maui, the memories tessellating across her body and simultaneously plunging her body into a thick isolation and an intense ecstasy. She sighed, sitting up and letting her fingers fall from her body in frustration.

Moana reached for Maui's floorplan of their hut, moving her fingers over the lines of ink. _His fingers touched here,_ she smiled as she laid against her pillow. She found sleep in the early hours of the morning with the paper still clutched in her hands.

***************************************

Signs of life discarded in a heap. Trinkets from other wayfaring villages, broken instruments, cooking utensils, children's toys, and jewelry. Items spanning across the sea. Tamatoa's lair glistened with the clutter of peoples' lives from keepsakes to abandoned goods. Maui snuck behind an old canoe before transforming into a beetle. _This will be so much easier with my hook back,_ Maui thought to himself as he remembered defeating the monster crab with Moana.

Tamatoa hummed to himself, organizing a junk pile in front of him. His massive purple claws snapped greedily as he appraised his collection. "Ah, very nice! Shiny, so shiny," He clucked to himself, shifting trinkets back and forth.

Maui crawled up one of his back legs, but the small movements of his beetle legs spiked the crab's attention. "Hm?" He paused, twisting to view the other side of his lair. Maui continued his ascent, clinging against the back of his gold-studded shell.

The clever demigod waited until Tamatoa settled back into his ritualistic organization habit of picking up each item and setting it back down. With a twist of his body, Maui transformed into a large python. The thud of his reptilian body against the crab's back sent Tamatoa into a frenzy.

"I see I have a _visitor_! Show yourself!" The crab spun around, dizzying the demigod. Maui used Tamatoa's momentum to his advantage. He wrapped his body around both of the long, purple stalks holding up Tamatoa's eyes.

"Ah!" Tamatoa yelped as Maui tied the crab's eyes in a tight knot, his snake body unrelenting against the Tamatoa's force.

Maui transformed into a jungle cat digging its sharp claws into the space between Tamatoa's body and his shell. Confused, the crab continued to scuttle around helplessly. Maui basked in the forgotten thrill of defeating evil creatures as he wedged his furry body in between the shell. With a final push, the golden shell tumbled onto the sandy bottom.       Maui fell underneath Tamatoa's body, the crab's claws snatching up the demi-god and piercing his skin just as the transformation back into a regular hermit crab occurred. The small crab left its former lair to walk off into the deep sea. Maui landed on the ground a second time, colliding in human form with a pile of lost items.

"Ah!" Maui cried as a sharp object stung his side. The demigod raised his head. Long gashes decorated his body like red tattoos, alive as they overflowed with blood and trickled down his stomach and legs. A stickiness developed on his face, and Maui held up a shard of a broken mirror he landed on.

He gasped. A long scar slipped from his temple, across his cheek to his chin. _Dear Gods,_ he thought, _these will never heal. I'm ruined._ The adrenaline warding off the pain subsided as Maui realized the extent of his wounds. He had battled many fierce beasts, but never experienced such intense physical damage. If he was purely human, this combat might have marked the final moments of his life. But, as a demigod, Maui suffered all mortal pain without the threat of death.

His body throbbing in multiple places, blood skirting his tan skin, Maui collapsed to the blurriness of his vision. His eyelids shut to the now vacant lair of one of the deadliest creatures in the Realm of Monsters.

The demigod needed to wait until the agony strung across his body, which would surely take days. On the precipice of unconsciousness, Maui heaved in a final breath before dropping his head to the side.

A faint glow moved across the red backsides of his eyes, and Maui willed his eyes to open. A small smile pinched his lips at the luminescent stingray hovering above him, transforming into an elderly woman with hair pulled back into a loose bun.

"Tala," Maui croaked, fingers twitching as he attempted to raise his hand to greet her.

"This, this is _ridiculous_ ," Gramma Tala huffed, pouting her lips, "I would _love_ to have a word with the Gods right now!"

The area above the underwater lair bubbled purple, the familiar chatter of the Gods clamoring above the demigod's head. "What in..." Maui muttered curiosity pushing his eyes to the mist clouding above him.

"Tala, what is your concern?" Rangi, supreme creator god, bellowed from above.

"This is my concern," the elderly woman waved her hand in front of Maui laying against the sand, "You _really_ want him to deliver all of this junk to people just so he can become a mortal?"

"Well, yes... that was the plan!" Kane replied in annoyance.

"No, no, no, _no_ ," Tala snapped, shaking her head in frustration, "Let me take all of this junk and return it... or find an alternate use for it. Just change him back now, and I'll put him on his boat back to Motonui."

Indiscrete chatter sounded from above, and Maui, nauseous from the noise bouncing back and forth from multiple sources, shut his eyes once again.

"Maui, do you agree to this?" Rangi asked, and the demigod replied with a groa and a nod of his head.

"Well, it's settled." Maui turned his head to watch as his hook glowed a fierce blue, then crumbled into dust. The demigod felt his skin tighten as his tattoos froze in place, unmoving for the remainder of his life.

"Ah!" Maui gasped as the pain multiplied with the reclamation of his mortal body. As glowing green hands lifted him to stand, Maui slipped into unconsciousness.

******************************************

"Ready?" Moana sighed as she eyed Tal from her spot in the audience. Her dark green velvet mimicked the scales of a serpent hiding in the jungle leaves at night, eyes framed by angular black paint. Tal nodded, his billowy orange shirt and snug pants outlining his muscular figure.

The pair walked hand in hand, a custom before any couples dance. They assumed their initial position. Moana twisted on the ground with Tal hovering over her. The drums pitter-pattered in a soft rumble before clangs of deeper percussion spiked through the air. The pair rose, Moana crawling backwards with Tal throwing a kick in the air.

A current strung between them as the music united their bodies, hands ravaging the space between them in faux lust. Moana spun against Tal for a moment before slipping underneath his arm, his feet scuffing the sand.

The rhythm changed to a single drum beat signifying the second portion of the dance. Tal lowered onto all fours, stalking Moana as she backed up against the ground. Moana kicked her legs in defense as Tal toppled over her, hands slashing the air between them. She cowered, writhing across the sand.

The percussion picked up to random rattles and quicker beat as the third section of the dance started. The pair circled eachother, Moana moving her lithe body like the serpent she pretended to be. She snapped her head and rolled her body as Tal punched the air with visible ferocity. Moana ducked, slinking on all fours away as Tal rumbled towards her: planting his feet and twisting his head. He delivered fake blow after fake blow, covering Moana's body with his as she slithered down to his feet.

The fourth section ensued, Moana rolling across the sand. Tal placed his hands on her cheeks nudged her thigh with his knee before crawling over her. Moana gave a final shake before closing her eyes, sprawled in defeat.

A coolness pressed against her lips with the concluding pound of the drums. Moana gasped, her eyelids fluttering open to see Tal removing his lips from hers as the villagers applauded and hollered with an audible vigor. She glared for a moment at him before picking herself up and flashing a fake smile to her village.

Moana strode through the crowd, people parting as she stalked off to the hot springs to wash up and withhold the fury fuming through her limbs. A hand grabbed her shoulder as she reached the edge of the water.

The chief turned to see Tal grinning at her, moonlight white against his face, "I thought I'd add in my own _touch_ there. I know you were feeling it, too, Chief. I'm just glad things are back to normal." He laid a hand on her cheek as her lips parted in shock.

 _Either he's being sarcastic or he actually thinks he still has a shot with me,_ Moana gulped back a hundred words about to spill out of her mouth and jab Tal in the jaw. His fingers ran down to move her bottom, the other possessive against her hip, "You honestly _amaze_ me."

The string tying Moana's emotions together slipped. The humiliation from the public kiss, the anger from Tal's ignorance of physical boundaries, and the loneliness from Maui's absence stacked against each other. She threw her hands against his chest and pinned him to a nearby tree.

Tal smirked at Moana's glowering up at him, "Damn, _someone's_ a little handsy. You want me now, Chief? Because you can have everything."

Impulse: the only excuse for her action. The fierce desire to protect herself paired with the sexual nature of his words caused Moana to simultaneously slap his face with the palm of her hand and kick him in his groin. A confused expression mixed with pain plastered Tal's face as he looked up at the chief from the ground.

"Don't you ever put your fucking hands on me again, Tal: or I'll have you banished from this village. Do you understand me?" Moana hurled the words at him like spears striking flesh.

Tal's eyes clouded before he nodded, red stains of embarrassment on his cheeks, "Yes, _Chief_."

"Stay away from me," Moana spit before walking to the far edge of the hot springs, watching out of her peripheral village as Tal stalked off.

Shedding her dress, the warm water eased her tense muscles. The rush of adrenaline still shuddered through her veins, and she lathered soap over her body and into her hair. Moana needed to return to the festivities, so she quickly rinsed and dried off with her towel. She ran a shell comb through her hair a few times before slipping on a casual dress.

"How fitting of you to play the part of the snake in that little performance," the shrill voice cooed from behind her, mimicking water chiming against rocks. In her peripheral vision, Moana noticed the orange glow casting its fingers against the backs for her legs. She refused to turn her head, continuing to fix her hair into a loose braid.

Moana turned to Pele the fire goddess standing in front of her. The goddess's long black hair curled in loose strands down to her shoulders, fire rippling against her skin. A string of jealousy raked through Moana at remembering the goddess's words about her repeated rendezvouses with Maui.

"Did you enjoy it?" Moana asked, curious but unwilling to display any emotion.

"Oh, yes. And it wasn't the only thing I enjoyed," the fire goddess bit her bright-red lip, long fingers thrumming against her black dress tight against her hips, "Your little boyfriend, Maui? He lied to you about all that mortality quest transformation shit. He's been staying over at the volcano with me."

Panic ripped through Moana, heart bursting with anxiety. She squeezed her fists together and glared back at Pele, "No he hasn't. He's not like that."            

"Oh, really? Because last time we talked, everything I said was true." Pele smirked.

Moana's mouth opened. _No. This can't be right,_ her intuition pleaded with Pele's words. Last time, Maui admitted to everything Pele told Moana. Why would this instance be different? Maybe because Maui was in love with Moana, or because he planned on building a hut to shelter both of the rest of their lives? The dark fear dripped through her thoughts, _maybe she's right._

"Sorry to enlighten you on that little tid bit, but I'm going now," Pele flicked her fingers before evaporating in a small flame. Moana yanked her towel, comb, and dress from off of a nearby rock and sniffled back tears: sprinting towards her hut so she could cry in privacy.


	23. Feed Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reunion of lovers and a flirtatious exchange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. I've had some recent change in my own love life which left me uninspired to work on this :( Here it is! Please excuse the delay!

Slashes of yellow blinded Maui as his eyes quaked open to the roaring sun. _Where the hell am I?,_ the demigod groaned as jolts of pain ripped across his skin. The previous day's events hurled over him: defeating Tamatoa, Tala's discussion with the gods, and his return to mortality. He reached his palms in front of his face, gritting his teeth in effort. _I'm mortal,_ a small smile lifted the sides of his lips.

The demigod sat up. The ocean purred around him, rushing against the sides of his boat. The sail curved against the wind, the boat propelling itself with the force of the water. Tala probably urged the ocean to push the unconscious demi god back to... Motonui.

Maui sighed. What if his love only existed from him to her? What if Moana rejected his revolting appearance of bloody gashes and bruises lining his skin, covering the tattoos that used to move on command when he was a demigod? What if this transformation proved to be a mistake, an irreversible descent sparked by love? Was it even love if it was only one-sided? Maui laid down, allowing the sun to burn him and his hideous wounds.

His hand grazed against something soft. He turned his head, observing the object in between his rough fingers. A doll with a little note attached in scribbly handwriting: _This is the only object Tamatoa has from Motonui. It's Moana's doll she lost when she was a child. Please return it to her! - Tala._

Maui smiled at the worn toy, a girl with yarn hair wearing a pink dress. A small green-painted stone was woven into the doll's hand, and Maui choked back a cry spurting from memory: a replica of the Heart of Tefiti. Was Tala, the gods, or cosmic chance responsible for this ironic twist?

Maui clutched the doll in his hands as the hours passed with the wind. The sun lazily dipped into the edge of the sea, and Motonui edged out of the line of blue glass surrounding Maui.

*******************************************

Moana laid on the sand, staring at the stars peeking out from the lavender sky. The breeze skipped across her skin, and she sighed as she thought of how many times she retreated to the beach for solace: dropping her tears into the waves and talking to the ocean.

Hope, the emotion tethered to her ankle like a rope. The thing propelling her through the days without Maui, hands moving like the limbs of a worn toy under a child's unsteady grasp. How unbearable for her to gaze at the sky and question if she would ever see Maui again.

Villagers shouted from down the beach. Moana lifted her head, following their eyes. Hope welled inside of her, then released itself: the feeling now useless because of the sight before her.

Moana placed her hands over her lips, tears clouding her sight as Maui's boat floated over the waves into the shallows. Maui leaned against the mast, a grimace over his face as he clutched his chest. The wounds licked all over his body in red slashes encrusted with blood and thick blue bruises. Some of the men waded into the water to drag the boat to shore.

"Step back!" Moana yelped, sprinting to the side of the boat. Moana parted through the villagers, and Maui lifted his gaze to hers.

Their eyes connected like two stars gasping before their fall, like hands of the ocean scooping up shells, like rain swallowing up any heat radiating from the parched ground. Moana bowed to the moment, to the string of fire roping their bodies together. A smile tickled Maui's lips. He reached something out to her as she kneeled at his side.

"Oh my gods," Moana held her childhood doll in her hands, swallowed by the ocean so many years ago, "Where...? What, what happened?" Tears drenched her cheeks, racing down past her smile.

"Take me back to the guest hut, and I'll tell you everything," Maui coughed, his eyes closing before he heaved out an exhausted exhale.

Moana nodded, motioning for a few men to help Maui stumble across the beach to the guest hut. Moana dismissed all the other villagers, carrying her doll as she followed the crowd. Maui hobbled up the stairs, collapsing on his sleep sack.        

"Can someone grab some water, rags, and food for him?" Moana huffed as the men poured out. She skipped around the hut in a frantic whirl, lighting the torches.

The room drowned in orange light. The two lovers stared at each other, mesmerizing the curves of the other's bodies. Maui's body hulked in size, his tattoos now stitched into his skin instead of slightly swaying. Their bodies held eachother from across the room with the locking of their eyes like trees knotting their roots together. In this position, alone, together, so many times before, but this surpassed all other flashes of this feeling.

The moment clattered into millions of pieces, like a sheet of rain across the rocky shore, as the men entered. Even they noticed the air sweltering with something besides the humidity, abashedly placing the rags, water, and bowl of grains and chicken on the hut before retreating.

Moana nodded her head in appreciation, then turned back to the demigod-turned-mortal. A spritz of rain landed in soft thuds outside. Moana lifted a quivering finger to graze Maui's thigh.

"I'm in love with you," she said plainly, flatly, quietly, because any sliver of emotion tingeing her words would send her sprawled out over his body, pattering his skin with light kisses, fingers clawing into tender flesh. Moana lifted her eyes to his.

"I want you, Moana," Maui grimaced as he urged Moana to come closer, "I want you in any way I can have you."

"Maui," Moana sighed, lips in a soft smile, "I've already given myself to you." A light rain clattered outside after she spoke these words. A shaky grin curled over the former demigod's lips. Silver shards of rain framed Moana's face like a halo as she reached for the bowl of grains and chicken.

"Are you hungry?" Moana crawled towards the sleep sack, Maui eye's drizzled in pain and other emotions besides pure affection and lust. She figured this was what love looked like as he nodded his head.

"I'm hungry for more than just food," Maui growled as Moana knelt beside him, cupping a little bit of grain and chicken in between her fingers.

"In your current state, I think we should stick with food for now," Moana blinked, startled by the former demigod's persistence even when wounds slashed his body in fierce lines, "Open up."

Maui's lips parted. Moana slipped her fingers into his mouth. She gulped, eyes enormous in surprise as Maui's tongue licked and lightly gnawed at her fingers. The familiar, tender, _primal_ part of her gasped.

"I told you I was starving," Maui grinned, then grimaced as his hands clutched his side.

"I'll wipe you down after you finish eating," Moana shook her head at his playfulness. Despite her cool demeanor, Moana felt her womanhood drizzling with the rain outside. _I want you, too,_ she bit her lip as she continued to feed him.

This time, Maui's lips sucked her fingers, tongue bursting from his mouth to circle her fingers. "Give me something, baby. I know you want it, too," Maui commanded.

Moana conceded, shoving the bowl of chicken and grains away from her as her lips collided with his. Maui thrust his tongue into her mouth. The rain pounded over the hut, a constant _drip drip drip_ from right outside of the guest hut entrance as drops hit the wood. Like the water clinging to the thatched roof above their heads, Moana grasped onto the moment with both hands.

Moana pulled away, scarlet cheeks matching the torches, "I, um." She reached once again for the food, unwound for the former demigod, scooping more food between her fingers. The strange, erotic climate continued as Moana fed Maui lick after lick of the chicken and grains.

"Time to clean you up," Moana stood up, fixing her bunched skirt. Maui's eyes traced over her exposed skin, the curve of her backside as she bent over to retrieve the rags and water.

"Make sure you get _all_ of me," Maui's lips pinched into a smirk. His eyelids closed as the wet rag traced across the now-engrained tattoos on his skin. Her hands appeared dwarfed compared to his muscular build. Her fingers rubbed the rag into the wounds, gargantuan smears of crusted blood and gashes welling with fluid. Maui's face contorted in discomfort.

"Am I hurting you?" Moana leaned over his chest, hands on either side of his body while she hunched in between his legs.

"Don't worry about me. Please keep going," Maui huffed. Moana nodded, continuing her descent down his sculpted and scarred body. With his chest clean, she gingerly applied the rag beneath his navel -- only to bump into the bulge beneath his lava lava.

Moana peered up at the former demigod behind dark lashes, his eyes gnawing into her like flames licking driftwood. "I told you I wanted you, right now," he whispered.  

Moana tossed the rag to the side of the bed and turned her head to whisper, "Then you can have me."


	24. Dance for Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moana rewards Maui which leads to an emotional pillow talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT WARNING! And THANK YOU FOR OVER 300 KUDOS. Honestly, very humbled and also very confused that that many of you even read this. Also, sorry for the wait. I'm just now realizing that this story isn't ending -- although I've said it was before. It's only the start of Maui and Moana's relationship which they have yet to discuss, and a relationship ultimately leads to marriage, and a family... but I'm not sure if I want to go that far into it. Open to suggestions. PLEASE COMMENT! I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU ALL! Thanks! Enjoy!

Maui lifted his head in an effort to relieve the pressure from his neck as he stared at Moana from his sleep sack. Her lower lip puckered like leaves thick with rain, eyes misty and dark like a humid summer sky. _Dangerous_ , the former demigod murmured to himself. The desires marching through his head _disgusted_ him. One glance at Moana provoked hundreds of vignettes of sexual acts tinting his cheeks a fiery red: her muted moans as he shoved his erect member in her wet mouth, rubbing his manhood against her backside, covering her wide-open lips to quiet her as he rammed his fingers into her place of passion. Maui wanted to destroy her to display his affection for her, claim her so everyone on the island recognized the caliber of his ardor for the chief -- then build her up once more with slow hands and hushed whispers.

"You're going to ruin me, and to be honest, I just don't care," Maui huffed as her dainty fingers held her hair back while she crawled over his chest. She only smiled in response, face hovering inches from his.

"Don't move," she ordered, determination alight in the clay brown of her eyes. Maui gawked at her, shakily raising his hands to rest on her shoulders. Moana withdrew from his touch, eyes shutting and mouth opening like tides saluting the moon.

"You think you can order me around just because I'm a _little_ hurt?" Maui chuckled. Despite his dominant demeanor, he understood the intense emotional hold Moana possessed over him. Beneath all of the masculine displays of power and his dominance during foreplay, the former demigod remained subject to almost any of her pleas. Now, physically incapacitated, he experienced a greater bewitchment with the half-girl half-woman than previous times.

Moana pouted at his words, then sank against the tops of his thighs -- cautious of the gashes lining his legs. Her skin soft against her own sparked the primal images in his mind, and Maui released a throaty growl, " _Please_ don't pout."

Moana eyed him before crossing her arms, bottom lip puckering out further than before, "What, like this?" The torchlight showered over it, dancing in orange waves.         

"You're a _tease_ ," Maui barked through gritted teeth, thick fingers possessive around her hips, "Maybe if I wasn't bedridden I'd fuck that tight mouth of yours." The words toppled out of his lips before his tongue could string them back down his throat. _Shit_ , he mentally berated himself, _I don't want to scare her_.

Moana's eyes morphed into tight slits, little orbs of fierce brown like war paint calculating something in her mind. Her next movement stunned Maui, so unexpected and powerful he gasped something like her name. Eyes chained to his, Moana palmed the place of his passion through the skirt of his lava lava. Her fingers rocked slowly against the tender flesh, and Maui sensed her determination through her touch. His words ignited a competition, physical and sexual and emotional as to whom would discard the charade and touch out of passion instead of pride.

Maui clenched her hips harder before digging his fingernails into her skin. She yelped out of both surprise and pain, Maui dragging her skirt to pool around her knees splayed on either side of his body. His eyes traced the curves of her womanhood. "Fuck," he breathed, kneading a handful of her backside in his large palm, "You don't understand how I'd take you right now if--"

"Why don't I put on a little show for you?" Moana removed her hand to grind her wet place of passion against his massive member. The moisture clung to Maui's manhood, and the gliding of her folds against him caused him to suck in a mouthful of humid air. Maui slapped her butt, urging her to increase her pace as she gyrated her hips against his.

"What kind of show, baby? You're already half naked," Maui huffed as Moana fled to the other side of the hut with a large smirk over her pink lips.

"You didn't get to see me dance the part of the snake, so maybe I'll do a quick run through of my part for you," Maui's groin nearly jumped up as she swayed her hips in a wide arc, her toes pushing her around in a full circle. The flesh of her backside jiggled from the small impact, and a rhythm built up by the tapping of her feet.

"You deserve a _little_ reward for your completing your quest. I guess you didn't even need my help this time," she giggled. Her slender fingers whisked her fabric top off to reveal her small breasts, nipples brown like coarse sand. Moana inched closer to the awe-struck Maui panting on his sleep sack.

"I didn't need your help before," he studied her as she rested her hands on his thighs. The contact sent his hips up in an impulsive flurry. He gritted his teeth as the wounds licking his legs throbbed.

"You know how you wanted to, um..." Moana's voice trailed off towards the thatched ceiling as she leaned over to press her lips to his neck. Rain danced against the ground outside as silence spoke between their bodies.

"How I wanted to _fuck_ your _mouth_?" Maui grinned at her reserve. He often forgot her level of inexperience at such a young age, the chief still navigating these sexual boundaries.

"Yeah, that," she squeaked as her wet tongue slashed along his neck in rapid lines mixed with quick kisses.

"And...?" Maui's hand snaked up to her butt. He basked in her hesitancy, as if she felt embarrassed by even uttering those three words.

Moana rolled her eyes, creeping down to rest her elbows on his thighs and chin in her hands. Her lips turned into a deadly smirk.

" _Answer_ me when I ask you something," Maui growled, attempting to recover from his loss of words at her sheer grace and determination.

"Stop trying to order me around, Big Maui," Moana pushed his lava lava back to reveal his large, erect member, "Wow. How's this going to fit in my mouth? You're so _big_." Moana failed to understand how even simple observations like this sent Maui into a whirlwind of lust. She kissed the tip, content with staring at it with full-moon eyes.

"Maybe if you'd stop staring at it, and just let me guide you..." Maui's patience threatened to snap like the last fibers holding up a falling coconut tree.

"I can do it myself," Moana huffed, a small puff of cool air leaving her lips to wake the tender skin of his manhood. Maui shuddered, thrusting himself up into the moist cavern of her mouth to her surprise. She covered her teeth with her lips as Maui plunged himself only halfway into her, her mouth so dainty he risked hurting her if he pressed any further. Moana's eyes clouded with the lust and determination, head bobbing slowly up and down his thick shaft.

"That's right, baby. Just, like, that," Maui groaned, grasping a handful of her hair. He yanked at the roots, then palmed her head to push her down once more: increasing the pace of Moana's ministrations. His place of passion stretched deeper and deeper, elongating into the back of her throat. The hollows of her cheeks glowed in the torchlight, her murky eyes peering up at him.

Their shared gaze almost tipped Maui over the precipice, the point where everything clattered like the rain landing in thick slashes against the ground outside. He shut his eyes in an effort to hold off, to revel in the build up before this massive release, but the flames of the torches contorted behind his eyelids into a white, shifting light.

Maui's fist tightened in the knots of Moana's hair. He released himself in her mouth, the white liquid dripping down her chin as she yanked herself back. Her throat wriggled as she gulped down the majority of his load, the rest staining her face. Moana instinctively wiped her face with her fingers, innocently tasting with the tip of her tongue.

 _Fuck. She doesn't even try to be hot_ , Maui, with heavy lids, only managed to stare at her. Her eyes intertwined with his, and her small pink tongue lapped up the rest of the mess surrounding her lips, "Um, did I do that right?"

Maui gaped at her, "Are you joking?" Moana shook her head before crawling up next to him. She nuzzled her body in between the crook of his neck and along his side, hiding her face against his chest.

"Are you embarrassed, baby?" Maui cooed, stunned at her shame. Her hair tickled his skin as she nodded into his side.

"You made me cum so hard, and so _fast_ , I mean, I'm even getting hard again with your tight, little body just--" Maui babbled in disbelief before her fingers trailed down to his crotch to test if he told the truth, hand limp against the hardening mass beneath.

"It's just, I don't want to embarrass myself by doing it wrong, and," Moana stuttered, bottom lip quivering as her eyes glazed over with tears, "and I really, _really_ like you, love you, even, and..."

"For Gods sakes, baby. You did so well, and when I'm better, you're actually going to stay the night here instead of running off back to your own hut. I won't let you leave, I swear. You just, wow," Maui kissed the top of her head as they surveyed eachother.

The tears welled over in fierce waves, Moana's pink cheeks drowning in moisture. Maui confusedly wiped his fingers against the soft skin of her face to dry her off, "Why are you _crying_?"

"Because I missed you, and I love you, and Tal kissed me--"

A sharp thread of fury pierced Maui's stomach, arching its way to his chest, "He did _what_." The adrenaline surged through his limbs, urging him to stand up.

"No, _no_. I shouldn't, shouldn't have told you," Moana yelped, laying across his body in an attempt to hold Maui back.

Unfortunately for him, her small weight proved enough of a challenge to leave him splayed across his sleep sack, "What happened this time with Tal?" Maui grumbled.

"He acted like the kiss was the final part of the dance, and it wasn't, and kissed me in front of everyone, and then Pele showed up and said you'd been, um, been at her place, doing things with her, and I didn't believe her, but also didn't _not_ believe her," Moana pressed her head into the crook of his neck, tears dripping onto the fabric of the sleep sack.

Maui consoled her with gentle pats on her bare back, the chief laying bare face down across his chest. "I don't like to share," Maui sighed.

Moana glared up at him, tears still sprinkled across her thick lashes, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Maui ran his fingers through her hair, "That I don't appreciate Tal touching what's mine."

"What do you _mean_ what's yours? I'm not a piece of property!" Moana rolled her eyes.

"Uh, yeah you are. I'm going to have to pay Tal a visit when I'm feeling better," Maui cocked his head to the side.

"You never said if you were with Pele, after you left," Moana murmured into his skin, wet lips planting a timid kiss against his neck.

"No, Moana. I wasn't with her. I was alone, then I was with Tamatoa, then your grandmother--"

"What?" Moana's voice quaked as she raised her head to stare at Maui, "You saw my grandmother?"

Maui nodded, "She convinced the gods to let her return all of those lost items so I could be with you. She saved me after I defeated Tamatoa, and gave me that doll to return to you."

Moana pecked him on the lips, her mood changing like waves following the rotating moon, "Well, I, um. I'm going to go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before blowing out the torches.

The words "I love you" almost left Maui's lips before she ran out of the hut, but his eyes slinked shut and sleep overtook him.


	25. Unfinished

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maui and Moana in the bed. Tui has some surprising news for Moana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT WARNING ;) and another plot twist!

Moana paced behind the guest hut, feet falling softly against the thistly grass. The sun reared up above the horizon, air damp from the previous night's rain. The inexplicable nervousness about seeing Maui confused and excited her. She parted her hair to the opposite side then flopped her thick brown locks to the original side. Huffing to herself, she strode through the curtains to the guest hut.

"Good morning," Moana breathed as Maui peered up at her from his sleep sack, "I brought breakfast. Are you feeling any better?"

Maui licked his lips and chuckled, "Yeah, now that you're here."

Moana blushed, cheeks turning the color of sweet flowers blooming on the far side of the mountain, "Do you want me to... _feed_ you again?"

Maui nodded. One of his massive hands gripped his side in pain as he shifted his back up against the far side of the hut. "But I want to tell you everything that happened when I was away."

"OK," Moana sat down beside Maui, nostrils invaded by his scent of sweat and sharp, rain-soaked leaves. A wave of arousal rolled over her, triggering the memories of their tryst the previous night. She shook her head clear of these reveries to stare back at the former demigod.

Maui clasped his hands in front of him, staring at them like they were fish capable of swimming away at any moment, "I was out there on that boat. Gods know how long, but if felt like years. I don't think it was. I defeated Tamatoa in the Realm of Monsters, but I got a bit knocked around in the process."

He motioned to the wounds covering his body, then continued, "Then, I went unconscious, and your gramma was there. She was so mad at the Gods for trying to keep us apart with that damn quest that she summoned them."

At the mention of Gramma Tala, Moana's eyes clouded, "I miss her."

"And she probably misses you, too. Don't cry. She convinced the Gods to let her deliver all of Tamatoa's junk back to its owners. I woke up again on that boat, the ocean pushing me back to you, and there was your doll with a note saying to give it back to you. And now I'm here, and I'm changed back to human form, and, and--"

"So, I guess you're kind of a... hero again," Moana eyed him as she wiped her face of a stray tear.

"Yeah, and I could use a little celebration," Maui smirked.

Moana rolled her eyes and reached for the bowl of grains and meat, "You can feed yourself. You're a big boy."

Maui sighed and shoveled fistfuls of the food into his mouth as an inquisitive expression passed over Moana's face, "Have you ever felt like this before?"

"Like what?" Maui wiped the crumbs from his face.

"In love, I mean. Have you felt it with other people before?"

Maui coughed, shoving the half-eaten bowl of food away, "I mean, I have been in love before--"

A quiet gasp cut off the rest of Maui's words. Moana pouted unintentionally, eyes glazing over at the wall behind Maui's head, "I should've known."

"But you need to understand something. Just because you love someone at one time doesn't mean you still love that person now. And what I have with you, although I've been in love too many times to count, doesn't mean this isn't different. For Gods' sakes, Moana, I changed for you."

Moana nodded at her naiveté, bombarded by a rush of embarrassment, "Did you love Pele?"

"No. She was always just a fuck buddy, as vulgar as that sounds," Maui resumed eating, finishing off his meal as Moana stared at the floor boards.

"When I think about the future, I always picture you in it," she turned her head away as the words parted from her lips, "But what if you fall out of love with me?"

Maui fizzled in that moment. Her sweetness, her youthfulness -- everything about her brimmed over into the surrounding air and left Maui feeling unsteady, like attempting to clutch the wind, "Then we weren't meant to be together. But every time we are separated, it seems like something pushes us back together. I can't stay away from you."

"Then don't," Moana crept up to place her fingers against his arm, "Please, Maui, don't leave again."       

Maui's chest visibly rose at the contact, a trickle of heat exploding up his skin, "I only left because I had to do the quest, and if--"

"I'm not talking about the quest. I'm talking about when I offered you a place on this island, in my life, and you didn't want it. After we restored the Heart," Moana withdrew her hand into her lap.

A wave of regret gushed over Maui. He discarded this shiver of a girl for his own pride? He rammed his hand to his forehead in frustration at his mistakes, "I don't want to leave you."

Moana's eyes swept over his face as she processed his words, affirming that he would not abandon their emotions sweeping their bodies together. Her lips moved towards his, slinking like snakes through the air until their tongues tussled. Maui's big hands guided her body to hover over his, kneading the fabric of Moana's skirt. Her soft moans filled the room like the morning light crashing in streaks against the wooden floor. Moana pulled back and wiped her mouth against the back of her hand.

"I hate when you tease me," Maui muttered, the evidence of his arousal peaking through his lava lava.

Moana blushed as the memory of the night before passed through her mind. She eyed the floor, avoiding the former demigod's eyes, "Shut up."

"Come back here and I'll make _you_ shut up," Maui smirked, beckoning her with his fingers, "Let me make you feel good."

Moana's body moved before her mind reached a decision. She slipped her legs over his thighs, Maui's muscles visible despite the gashes. The former demigod raised his powerful hands to caress the skin above her chest, dipping his hand underneath the fabric of her dress.

"You feel so damn good," Maui murmured, revealing her bare breasts, "Good enough to eat." One of his hands snaked around to her back, pushing one of her nipples against his eager lips. His tongue extended to flick around the sensitive flesh. Moana yelped at the moisture colliding with her dry skin and the motion of Maui's lips, teeth, and tongue.

Smirking, Maui wrapped another hand around her mouth to muffle her cries, "Quiet, baby, or you'll wake up the entire village." Moana barely nodded, eyes thin slits crushed by the "When I'm all better, I'm going to take you to the far side of the island where no one can hear you screaming my name. You can be as loud as you want. Would you like that, baby?" Maui's fingers prodded past her lips to meet Moana's tongue, "Suck on them. It'll stop you from screaming."

Moana shut her eyes as Maui reached his free hand to hitch up her skirt. His skilled fingers rubbed the soft skin of her upper thigh, crawling to palm her front, "Wow. Nothing underneath?"

Moana shook her head. Her hands, digging into Maui's hips, moved to press against the place of his passion. She kneaded the bulge extending past both of her hands, so meaty and thick that she ached to taste him once more.

"M-Moana," He croaked, bucking his hips into her hand. Maui's fingers fled to Moana's gushing center, plunging into her.

"Maui, I'm, uh," Moana spit Maui's fingers from her lips and leaned against his chest, placing her mouth against his ear to whisper, "I'm really, really wet."

"Why?" Maui growled, fingers gaining speed to ram into her.

"You know why," she spit back, removing her hands from his organ pointed towards the ceiling, "And I want to, to--"

"Want me to _fuck_ you?" Maui grinned, sweat forming on his forehead.

Maui nodded as Maui's fingers retreated to hold onto her hips, pushing her onto his place of passion. They both moaned, Moana's eyes rolling back into her head and mouth agape. Maui stared at her with glistening eyes, panting as she sunk down to engulf _all_ of him.

"I, like, when you're, you're, rough with me," Moana croaked, pouting her lips to lock eyes with Maui.

Maui groaned at this comment, ramming his hips up into her, "There are lots of other rough things and positions I can do--"

"Moana?" Tui's voice echoed against the sides of the surrounding huts. Moana's eyes grew wide before she shoved her dress back up and moved off of Maui. Maui grabbed the quilt next to him, tossing it over his lower region.

"In here, Papa! Just talking with Maui," Moana gulped, calling out to her father from behind the curtain of the guest hut. Maui muttered something to himself about the timing, then slumped against the wall.

"Ah, there you are!" Tui peaked his head through the curtain. Moana rose from her seated position as Maui greeted the former chief.

"Morning, Chief," He grinned.

"Good morning, Maui. And how are you recovering?"

"Alright. Your daughter's been taking _excellent_ care of me." Maui smirked at Moana, whose cheeks flashed crimson.

"Ah, is that right! Well, I need to speak to Moana about a very urgent diplomatic situation," Tui nodded, and Moana followed her father out of the guest hut.

"What's going on, Papa?" Moana's brows furrowed in curiosity as she leaned against the outer wall of the guest hut.

"We have visitors from a neighboring island. We've been able to make contact with us through a translator since one of the older visitors learned their language from their parents years ago. The other island's chief, a man named Loto, would like to speak with you."

"What does he want to speak to me about?"

"You probably won't like this, but I think it'd be a good idea," Tui sighed, then ran his hand through his hair, "He wants to court you to potentially marry you so you can both share a dual governance of both islands."


End file.
